Opinion on a song's meter

[famous beagle]

Hey y'all, I wasn't sure where to put this, but since it's a guitar song, I figured here would be as good as any.

The song is Joe Satriani's "Always with Me, Always with You." I'm curious as to who would call this 3/4 and who would call it 6/8. I'm firmly in the 3/4 camp, but I'm curious to hear what others think.

Thanks!

 

[miroslav]

That's back from when he had hair...so it's 6/8.

I think if you focus on the 6 count of the opening arpeggio licks...they imply 6/8, but you can count it 3/4 too.
From a listening perspective...does it really matter?

 

[Mack Caster]

I think it is 9/12ths stepped down by 2/3rds, but I voted on 3/4er or 6/8ths half stepping which all = s 3/4ers anyway. Wait, it aint metric is it?

 

[famous beagle]

I think if you focus on the 6 count of the opening arpeggio licks...they imply 6/8

The hair is a factor, I agree. And you're right ... it doesn't matter from a listening perspective.

I'm curious how you arrive at this statement though. IMO, those guitar arpeggios seem to imply 3/4 instead of 6/8. Unless you hear it differently than I do, he seems to be accenting the same notes as the shaker in his arpeggios... so, like this:

1 and 2 and 3 and, 1 and 2 and 3 and, 1 and 2 and 3 and, etc.

6/8 would be accenting the 1st and 4th notes of the arpeggios, like this:

1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5 6,etc.

Do you hear him accenting like that? Because to me, it certainly sounds as though he's accenting along with the shaker.

Unless I'm not following you.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Counting 6 with the shaker downs put the 'snare' on beat four.
6/8 makes sense to me.

 

[famous beagle]

Counting 6 with the shaker downs put the 'snare' on beat four.
6/8 makes sense to me.

But where would the snare normally go in 3/4 meter?

That's the slowest 6/8 I've ever heard!

 

[Steenamaroo]

But where would the snare normally go in 3/4 meter?

2, or 3, or both.

That's the slowest 6/8 I've ever heard!

Nothing Else Matters would be substantially slower 6/8.
There's very official looking sheet music for "Always with Me, Always with You." written as 3/4 and 6/8.
I guess even the publishers aren't sure.

There's no rule but I wouldn't want to write Kick-2-3-Snare-2-3. That's a bar of 6, to me.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Hey y'all, I wasn't sure where to put this, but since it's a guitar song, I figured here would be as good as any.

The song is Joe Satriani's "Always with Me, Always with You." I'm curious as to who would call this 3/4 and who would call it 6/8. I'm firmly in the 3/4 camp, but I'm curious to hear what others think.

Thanks!

Love this song - I'd heard a little bit of his playing before, but this was the song that turned me into a fan of his, when I heard a live-in-the-studio version he played on a radio station, and I don't think I breathed for the entire duration of the song.

I agree in practice it doesn't really matter, but the official transcription is in 3/4.