Stupid IS as Stupid DOES

Snowman999

Active member
I'm not the best with tempo. I tap my fingers, come close. But, it usually takes me about 15 minutes before I hit the exact tempo. Then I lay down the click track.

I wrote a new song, and want to record it before I forget it. It's not normal chords or strumming. For me it's a little more complex. Which might be why I can't figure out the tempo.

AN HOUR AND A HALF and I couldn't even come close. 70, 110, 120, 80, 85... NOTHING.

I'm tapping and saying bass drum 1, snare 2... No. It's bass drum 1 snare 3.. Then I figured it out. It's 3/4 time not 4/4.

It took me 2 minutes to get the 110 tempo in 3/4 time.

First song I ever wrote in 3/4, and I didn't even know it.
 
I love 3/4 time. It's a fairly regular part of my songwriting. I've played with musicians who had real problems with it though. I can never tell the difference between 3/4 and 6/8. I just call them waltz time and in my head that makes it straightforward.
Tempo isn't always easy to determine though. Sometimes it is, it just falls naturally. But other times it can take me quite a while to work out a tempo that feels right. I like those songs where my tempo changes significantly within the same chord or music structure.
 
I have so much mixed meter stuff that just comes to me. I have a demo that was recorded on 4 track cassette a jillion years ago on a portastudio that I only have a two track mix left of that I want to re-record and trying to figure out the drum beat is driving me crazy. I almost have it, but I have been futzing with it for 3 nights straight after work and have yet to record anything due to this hold up:facepalm:
 
I love 3/4 time. It's a fairly regular part of my songwriting. I've played with musicians who had real problems with it though. I can never tell the difference between 3/4 and 6/8. I just call them waltz time and in my head that makes it straightforward.
Tempo isn't always easy to determine though. Sometimes it is, it just falls naturally. But other times it can take me quite a while to work out a tempo that feels right. I like those songs where my tempo changes significantly within the same chord or music structure.

The guitarist from my first band told me to check 6/8. It plays well in 3/4, so I'm not going there.

When I think 3/4 I do think waltz, that's why this song didn't sound 3/4. Now, that I know it is, that's all I hear. I guess that's why I thought trumpet and violin for lead.

I have so much mixed meter stuff that just comes to me. I have a demo that was recorded on 4 track cassette a jillion years ago on a portastudio that I only have a two track mix left of that I want to re-record and trying to figure out the drum beat is driving me crazy. I almost have it, but I have been futzing with it for 3 nights straight after work and have yet to record anything due to this hold up:facepalm:

One day you're going to remember what you did, then curse yourself for being so stupid to have forgotten it. I do that constantly.
 
When I think 3/4 I do think waltz, that's why this song didn't sound 3/4. Now, that I know it is, that's all I hear
That's the thing with waltz time. What's important is the count rather than the actual music. I just call it waltz time because when waltzes were done, they were done to that time signature. When I incorporate it, I'm counting in my head. I'd like to see people try to dance a waltz or anything for that matter, to some of my 3/4 {or 6/8 if they are 6/8 !} sections !!
 
That's the thing with waltz time. What's important is the count rather than the actual music. I just call it waltz time because when waltzes were done, they were done to that time signature. When I incorporate it, I'm counting in my head. I'd like to see people try to dance a waltz or anything for that matter, to some of my 3/4 {or 6/8 if they are 6/8 !} sections !!

I wrote a guitar hoff for this song, that says waltz all over it. Of course, that's what I think. Everyone else might say WTF?
 
It's basically impossible to tell the difference between 6/8, 12/8, 3/8, and 3/4, really. They could all be mistaken for each other.

Like grimtraveller said, 3/4 is known as the waltz tempo: 1 2 3, 1 2 3. But what's the sonic difference between that and 3/8? I mean, I know you're counting three quarter notes per measure in 3/4 and three eighth notes per measure in 3/8, but what if it's a fast 3/4 or a slow 3/8? What's the difference?

And if it could be 3/8, then who's to say it couldn't be notated in 6/8 with just twice as many notes in a measure? And then you could do the same thing again (double the notes in the measure) and get 12/8.

9/8 would be different because you'd be grouping those groups of three into three units (kind of like 3/4 but with a triplet on every beat), and so the music needs to reflect that. For example, Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is a 9/8 piece (although the phrasing is not very clear cut, IMO).
 
My 2 cents on time signatures, it's about the emphasis. 4/4 might sound like 2/4 in the counting but it won't have the 2/4 feel (ONE and TWO and, etc). Likewise with 3/4 and 6/8.

rev
 
I wrote a song in 5/4 time and didn’t know it until someone pointed it out. I switched it to 4/4 and it still feels awkward to play it that way lol
 
Back
Top