please don't shoot me.

[VeganZombie]

how do i know what speed to set a click to? ie:3/4,4/4,7/8?

i've been playing guitar for about 14 years now, and i've never learned how to distinguish time signatures? (i can't read a lick of music either). as cliche' as it sounds, i just play.

curtiss

 

[daav]

For most rock and roll songs you will be in 4/4 (four quater notes per measure). Your standard AC/DC type beat. The feeling is like Boom-Chick-Boom-Chick

Some standard Rock and roll songs will be in 3/4, such as the Beatle's Norwegian Wood.

Many country and "waltz" style songs are also in 3/4. The ones that tend to have an Oom-pah-pah feeling.

For the most part, youa re dealing with diftferent variations of those two types of time signatures, even or odd. That is the basic explanation, stuff with polly rythyms (using 3 time over 4 beats, and vice-versa) gets more complicated.

To determine what a song it in, get the beat, tap your toes to it, and then start counting. If the musical phrases (measures) repeat themselves in chucks of 4 or 3 you ahve a good idea of which type of rythym you are working with.

Daav

 

[MadAudio]

Speed and time signature are two different things. The time signature tells you how many beats to the measure and what type of note gets one beat. So 3/4 means 3 beats to the measure, quarter note gets one beat.

Tempo (speed) is usually measured in bpm (beats per minute). A standard disco song is 120 bpm.

 

[seryozha]

I'll Explain, but you will still not understand.


3/4 means there are 3 beats to a measure and each quarter note gets a beat.
- 3 quarter notes in each measure
4/4 means there are 4 beats to a measure and each quarter note gets a beat.
- 4 quarter notes in each measure
7/8 means there are 7 beats to a measure and each eighth note gets a beat.
- 7 Eighth notes in a measure


If you dont know what a quarter,eighth, or a measure is...we'll...now would be a time to learn them.

to answer your question, 4/4 is the most common.

 

[TuoKaerf]

Hal Leonard (sp?) makes some really good beginner music theory books. I use them when I teach drumset lessons with the kids who haven't had formal music training before, and all of them end up with a solid grasp of it after a few months of work.