Time signature 'Discussion'

Bradastronaut

Senior Member
So my friend sent me a guitar riff for me to give some beat ideas to it. He claims its in 17/16, i say its all in 4 except for the one triplet feel. (Had to cut down the entire thing so i could upload it) this is purely to settle a debate though! haha thanks :)
 

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So my friend sent me a guitar riff for me to give some beat ideas to it. He claims its in 17/16, i say its all in 4 except for the one triplet feel. (Had to cut down the entire thing so i could upload it) this is purely to settle a debate though! haha thanks :)

That's 4/4.

Sounds like a bar of 3/4 and a bar of 5/4, which adds up to a basic 4/4. You can easily play a 4-on-the-floor to that and it works fine.

Not sure what he's playing near the end of the mp3 after that pause... he's not in time with the first part, so it's hard to figure out where he's going, but I believe it's 12/8.
 
Thankyou!
Musical theory is probably the best thing for guitarists to avoid isnt it ;)
I figured something simple would do the trick for that riff though
Bass on the 1 + and the + 3
Snare on the 2 then on the + after the 4...
 
Thankyou!
Musical theory is probably the best thing for guitarists to avoid isnt it ;)
I figured something simple would do the trick for that riff though
Bass on the 1 + and the + 3
Snare on the 2 then on the + after the 4...

Yep, a basic bass/snare on the 1/3 works great for that first riff.

Yeah, sorry to burst your guitarist's bubble, but that's common time, nothing crazy ;)
Although the 12/8 riff (after that pause) is interesting.
 
Hes informed me that that is actualy a guitar pro recording, so its programmed and isnt actualy him playing :S
maybe it is 17/16...
 
Hes informed me that that is actualy a guitar pro recording, so its programmed and isnt actualy him playing :S
maybe it is 17/16...

It isn't 17/16.

Here is a song in 17/16, to give you (and him) an idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVqSae-XZM

There's no way you could play a 4/4 over that and have it sound good, unlike you're guitarist's piece, whose riff is 3/4 + 5/4. I have no idea how he (or his software) added that up and got 17/16.
 
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Anything CAN be notated as 17/16. You just are gonna have a lot of strange fractions and brackets going on and it would make any sense to do such a thing. This is definitely just 4/4.
 
Its funny how people try to make things sound harder than they are. My band has a song that has a section like this: 7/8 8/8 9/8 8/8, 7/8 8/8 9/8 10/8 - all at a bar a time going round and round. This doesnt mean its 66/64, or even 33/32... its simply a count of 7 8 9 8 7 8 9 10

No need to over complicate things!
 
Its funny how people try to make things sound harder than they are. My band has a song that has a section like this: 7/8 8/8 9/8 8/8, 7/8 8/8 9/8 10/8 - all at a bar a time going round and round. This doesnt mean its 66/64, or even 33/32... its simply a count of 7 8 9 8 7 8 9 10

No need to over complicate things!


8/8? ....thats 4/4
..........
 
I know, but that would then mean technically a tempo change from the 7/8 if you were to transcribe it perfectly. It's simpler to count it as that. Same goes for anything in 2/4 really

time signature has nothing to do with tempo

there would be no tempo change from 7/8 to 4/4

to transcribe it "perfectly" you would not use 8/8 you would use 4/4
 
time signature has nothing to do with tempo

there would be no tempo change from 7/8 to 4/4

Well, sorta... If you have bars in 8 per bar then if you wanted each bar to be equal in time then to go 4 per bar, at the same speed I think, technically, that you would be doubling the tempo. Im probably wrong hahah, but I've no formal training. Actually, that sounds a bit like nonsense reading back!

A four bar loop, with 33 beats. If you heard it, you'd understand why we broke it down like that. Sometimes the notes, not drum beat, denote the time. Which is why you can have 3/4 5/4 where 4/4 just isn't appropriate.

A 5/4 jazz song can be called 4/4 after enough bars if you want it to! But that's just silly.

Either way, 8/8 is a signature if I want it to be... There are no rules in music!
 
Well, sorta... If you have bars in 8 per bar then if you wanted each bar to be equal in time then to go 4 per bar, at the same speed I think, technically, that you would be doubling the tempo. Im probably wrong hahah, but I've no formal training.

A four bar loop, with 33 beats. If you heard it, you'd understand why we broke it down like that. Sometimes the notes, not drum beat, denote the time. Which is why you can have 3/4 5/4 where 4/4 just isn't appropriate.

A 5/4 jazz song can be called 4/4 after enough bars if you want it to! But that's just silly.

Either way, 8/8 is a signature if you want it to be

will not change the tempo at all

7/8 refers to 7, 8th notes
4/4 is 4 quarter notes in which 8, 8th notes fit


so 8/8 technically does not exist ...it is simply 4/4

and your whole 5/4 can be 4/4 thing makes no sense to me

totally different time signatures
 
will not change the tempo at all

7/8 refers to 7, 8th notes
4/4 is 4 quarter notes in which 8, 8th notes fit


so 8/8 technically does not exist ...it is simply 4/4

and your whole 5/4 can be 4/4 thing makes no sense to me

totally different time signatures


8 bars of 5/4 = 40 beats
10 bars of 4/4 = 40 beats

Thus, a 5/4 song could be transcribed as 4/4 if you call 8 bars of it one 'turn'. You could play a 4/4 beat over the top and eventually it would right itself and start again. Music is mathematics.
 
8 bars of 5/4 = 40 beats
10 bars of 4/4 = 40 beats

Thus, a 5/4 song could be transcribed as 4/4 if you call 8 bars of it one 'turn'. You could play a 4/4 beat over the top and eventually it would right itself and start again. Music is mathematics.


it would make close to zero sense to chart it that way ....but ok

do what you wish
 
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