Have you ever wondered why every band member seems to be on a common pulse and they’re keeping time with each other? It is crucial for musicians to play with a common pulse so as to not go out of sync with each other otherwise everyone will be on different parts of the composition even if they start together and the whole piece will sound, well, broken.
Time signatures are a solution to break a piece of music into fixed measures and that way ensuring that everyone stays on the same beat. So let’s understand how to read and write them.
Concept of Time Signatures
Time signatures or meter signatures, determines the rhythmic structure of a music piece. It is denoted by two numbers stacked vertically at the beginning of a music sheet. Below is a picture of 4 bar of my own composition in 7/8.
Reading and Writing Time Signatures
As you can see in the picture of a staff, the vertically stacked two numbers in the beginning denote that the music piece is in 4/4. The top number describes how many beats in one bar and the lower number describes what type of note takes up one beat of a metronome. Below is a table describing the different lower numbers
|
Lower Number |
Type of Note |
| 2 | Half note |
| 4 | Quarter Note |
| 8 | Eighth Note |
Let’s look at other examples so that you understand it better.
Most Used time signature in Modern Pop Music
The 4/4 time signature is heavily used in all of music. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that 90% of modern Pop Music is composed in 4/4. And that is why sometimes you’ll see a big C written in the beginning of the sheet. That is another way of representing 4/4 or common time.
You can just pick any Taylor Swift song and it’ll be in 4/4 🙂
3/4 Time Signature or the Waltz Time Signature
Another commonly found time signature is 3/4. The top number 3 indicates that a bar will last only 3 beats and those 3 beats will be a quarter note.
The popular song Piano Man by Billy Joel is in 3/4
Here are few more songs written in 3/4
6/8 Time Signature
I think if you want something to sound super sad or if you want a piece of music to hit hard, 6/8 time signature is the boss xD. But that’s a personal opinion.
Here, 6/8 is a bit different than 3/4. The top number 6 denotes that there the bar will last 6 clicks of a metronome and the lower number 8 tells us that each of those clicks will be of eighth note value.
The most famous song Can’t help falling in love by Elvis Presley is in 6/8
Here are a few more songs in 6/8
- Gravity – John Mayer
- Nothing Else Matter – Metallica
- A Thousand Years – Christina Perri
- Until I found you – Stephen Sanchez
However, if you listen to the example of a song in 6/8 you will feel that there is another pulse going on under the normally counted 6/8 pulse. In 6/8 time signature, the beat 1 and 4 is accented and if you count just those beats you’ll find a pulse of 2/4 going on. So you could say that 6/8 is nothing but 2/4 with a quarter note divided into triplets.
This is a bit confusing for the beginners to grasp, my advice is to just keep it in your mind and you will understand it better down the line when you get more accustomed to playing different time signatures in your musical journey.
Choosing the Proper Time Signature for your composition
Choosing the time signature is crucial as this will govern the feel of your song and what emotion you want to convey. For example if you want to write a waltz it’s better to go with 3/4 time signature than 6/8. If you want to write funky dance music, 4/4 time signature is the best bet.
But you should always experiment on how your music sounds like in different time signatures and use your ears to find the best one.
It is good to have a basic understanding of time signatures when you’re starting out, it allows you to play with other people and progress in your musical journey.
The initial 5 years of my journey took me to different time signatures and I’m still practicing in playing and feeling different time signatures, so don’t get disheartened if you don’t know how to play in 5/4 or 7/8 yet, you’ll get better in time as you have more experience. Chances are you’ll play most of the time in 4/4 so best to learn that first.
Happy Practicing. The next lesson is here.
Cheers,
SonorousMoose xD
