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Rock Songs with Non Standard Time Signatures


PatrickJ

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15 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

How does that work?

 

Psuedo-intellectual bollox, if you ask me ;) 

But I managed to find this:

 

On a final note, a bar of 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, 145456/145456 all have the same duration - one whole note, one semibreve.

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22 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

Not seeing any examples of non-standard. Any time signature with a bottom number of 2, 4, or 8 is pretty standard :ph34r:

 

So here's an example which has a section in 5/5

 

 

Which section is in 5/5?  

 

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I was in a band at university and we wrote a song that was sort of in 9/8. I say sort of, it actually caused the drummer and guitarist to get into a massive fight one night in the pub over whether it could strictly be called 9/8 or not because in music theory 9/8 is supposedly three groups of 3 quavers each. Our song was more like a bar of 3/4 then a bar of 3/8. I didn't really care so carried on drinking my beer.

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2 minutes ago, Merton said:

I was in a band at university and we wrote a song that was sort of in 9/8. I say sort of, it actually caused the drummer and guitarist to get into a massive fight one night in the pub over whether it could strictly be called 9/8 or not because in music theory 9/8 is supposedly three groups of 3 quavers each. Our song was more like a bar of 3/4 then a bar of 3/8. I didn't really care so carried on drinking my beer.

To me (a drummer...), 9/8 doesn't impose any grouping per se, but it could well be written that way, and often is. It could also be simply un-accented 9 beats, with no inherent grouping at all and would still be 9/8. It is often more 'readable' to write each part in its own time signature, though, and have alternating bars of 3/4 and 3/8 in the example you give. Some would write as 4/4-5/4, too, instead of 9/4; the difference really is in the intention of the composer rather than any strict 'theory' or 'rules'.
I'll have a lait-fraise if you're buying... :drinks:

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53 minutes ago, toneknob said:

Golden Brown, 13/4 - as is Turn It On Again

 

 

Before Golden Brown, the Stranglers had another, lesser known, song in 13/4 - "Peasant in the Big $h1tty"

(I think it's 13/4 anyway)

The whole song is pretty weird, not just the time sig... and it is sung by the recently departed Dave Greenfield.

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1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

To me (a drummer...), 9/8 doesn't impose any grouping per se, but it could well be written that way, and often is. It could also be simply un-accented 9 beats, with no inherent grouping at all and would still be 9/8. It is often more 'readable' to write each part in its own time signature, though, and have alternating bars of 3/4 and 3/8 in the example you give. Some would write as 4/4-5/4, too, instead of 9/4; the difference really is in the intention of the composer rather than any strict 'theory' or 'rules'.
I'll have a lait-fraise if you're buying... :drinks:

To me, 9/8 can be interpreted in 2 ways: either as compound 3 time (3 divisions per beat, 3 beats per bar) - which could also be described as swingtime 3 time. Or as a possibly further defined additive thing eg 2+2+2+3.

I've only performed one song in 9/8 (Never Loved a Man) and its clearly 3x3 divisions.

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2 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Psuedo-intellectual bollox, if you ask me ;) 

But I managed to find this:

 

On a final note, a bar of 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, 145456/145456 all have the same duration - one whole note, one semibreve.

Glad you said that 😄

Oh and 5/5 would be a semibreve and a crochet. 

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How about Genesys 'Watcher Of The Skies'..? The time signature jumps about a fair bit; one would have trouble nailing it down to any 'simple' signature...

 

(The stick twirling is optional 9_9 ...)

Edited by Dad3353
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5 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

Glad you said that 😄

Oh and 5/5 would be a semibreve and a crochet. 

Nope, anything which is n/n will be a semibreve. Think about it.....2/2 4/4 and 8/8 would be. 5/4 would be a semibreve + crotchet in length though.

I do agree that these "irrational time signatures" are basically a load of Balaerics, though. They are simply a different way of writing the same thing, and no clearer either, in the process.

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Any drummer getting bored with 'four on the floor' could do worse than having a look at Zappa's 'Black Page' (1 & 2...). Ably demonstrated here, it's all written, to be played as written. The title 'Black Page' comes from the graphic appearance of the drum score...

 

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I'd been playing Rush's 'Limelight' on and off in bands for a decade, completely oblivious to its time signatures before some biff buttonholed me at a gig to waffle on about the mastery of the interplay between 4/4, 7/4 and 6/4, and how tricky it must be to switch between them. I said 'I dunno, it's just a good song.'

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4 minutes ago, Muzz said:

I'd been playing Rush's 'Limelight' on and off in bands for a decade, completely oblivious to its time signatures before some biff buttonholed me at a gig to waffle on about the mastery of the interplay between 4/4, 7/4 and 6/4, and how tricky it must be to switch between them. I said 'I dunno, it's just a good song.'

That's the skill of bands like Rush and Dream Theater - to play what sounds like 'just a good song' and yet it's complex if you really listen to it.

Disappear - Dream Theater

Tiberius - Smashing Pumpkins

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32 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

How about Genesys 'Watcher Of The Skies'..? The time signature jumps about a fair bit; one would have trouble nailing it down to any 'simple' signature...

 

 

As Genesis songs go, it's pretty straight. The Cinema Show has a 7/8 instruemtnal coda; the instrumental of Robbery Assault and Battery is 13/8, Apocalypse in 9/8 is just that (actually 9/4 but never mind) and the Firth of Fifth intro has every time sig under the sun.

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12 minutes ago, Daz39 said:

That's the skill of bands like Rush and Dream Theater - to play what sounds like 'just a good song' and yet it's complex if you really listen to it.

Disappear - Dream Theater

Tiberius - Smashing Pumpkins

Rush play in 7 like it's their 4/4. Check our DT's Erotomania for some mopre chewy times - I like the alternating 11/8 and 10/8 sections.

 

 

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