Best Ever Albums

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 21:28:37 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/16/2013 01:28

sp4cetiger wrote:

Either way, it's an interesting topic. I've always been curious about math rock, but never got around to it. Anyone have suggestions on where to start?

Slint.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:38:00 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/16/2013 00:38

Quote:

...Sometimes they do things that sound impossible but then turn out to be just 4/4 hidden under ridiculous effects and syncopation and stuff.

I actually preferred the original title of this thread ("timing" rather than "time signatures") since heavy syncopation can be just as disorienting as unusual time signatures. Or maybe just "rhythm."

Either way, it's an interesting topic. I've always been curious about math rock, but never got around to it. Anyone have suggestions on where to start?

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:22:42 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/16/2013 00:22

The guitar-pro tab I have of this song has it jumping between bars of 7/8, 4/4, 5/4 and 2/4 during the "verses", and then switching to 12/8 for the bit with the crazy tapping. The majority of the album is just as messed up:

Link

Autechre have got some weird stuff too, especially a few songs on Confield (and the stuff that followed) where I can't even distinguish anything resembling a normal beat. Sometimes they do things that sound impossible but then turn out to be just 4/4 hidden under ridiculous effects and syncopation and stuff.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Defago — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:06:35 GMT

Author: Defago

Posted: 09/16/2013 00:06

Link

Long live Slint.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:35:58 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/15/2013 22:35

AgainstMeAgainstYou wrote:

Oh I know, it's what gives them the edge over other grunge bands IMO. The funny thing is if I'm just playing the drum part, it's simple, but if I actually count bars it fucks me up.

Haha, very true. I find that to be especially true with "Fresh Tendrils".

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:25:34 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 09/15/2013 22:25

swedenman wrote:

Yeah, Soundgarden has a tendency to do that.

Oh I know, it's what gives them the edge over other grunge bands IMO. The funny thing is if I'm just playing the drum part, it's simple, but if I actually count bars it fucks me up.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:23:23 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/15/2013 22:23

AgainstMeAgainstYou wrote:

Rusty Cage is very difficult to follow if you're actually trying to count time.

Yeah, Soundgarden has a tendency to do that.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:22:06 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 09/15/2013 22:22

Rusty Cage is very difficult to follow if you're actually trying to count time.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:13:46 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/15/2013 22:13

Time signatures have a hard time following me

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Cymro2011 — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:56:14 GMT

Author: Cymro2011

Posted: 09/15/2013 21:56

junodog4 wrote:

Check out math rock if you want interesting time signatures.

Polvo.

Their time sigs are pretty weird.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:50:38 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/15/2013 21:50

I once wrote a bit where there were three violin parts, one in 3/8, one in 5/8, and one in 7/8. It lasted precisely 105 beats.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

junodog4 — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 12:17:11 GMT

Author: junodog4

Posted: 09/15/2013 16:17

Check out math rock if you want interesting time signatures.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

nitro2k11 — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 12:14:54 GMT

Author: nitro2k11

Posted: 09/15/2013 16:14

alot of TOOL and alot of Soundgarden have odd times.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

HazeyTwilight — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 06:37:22 GMT

Author: HazeyTwilight

Posted: 09/15/2013 10:37

Sufjan Stevens likes to plays with my mind in terms of time signatures. The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders is a hard song to follow. It's in 11/4 (which boggles my mind to think that such a thing exists :shock:) but some people say it's a mixture of 5/8 and 6/8, which would make sense, but at 2:45 and 4:40 it becomes a challenging process. It's still a great song.

Link

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

19loveless91 — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 06:18:37 GMT

Author: 19loveless91

Posted: 09/15/2013 10:18

Isn't Pyramid Song 9/8? Or at least that's what my sheet music says.

Here's an interesting example of a different time structure:

Link

Link

I think it's called "Macedonian rhythm", and it may have come from Macedonian folk music (but I don't know much/anything about that), these two songs are both using the rhythm in a more of a conventional song arrangement.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 06:02:00 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/15/2013 10:02

Pyramid Song by Radiohead is notoriously difficult to work out...

Link

...and then the drums come in and it turns out to have been 4/4 all along.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

benpaco — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 02:04:31 GMT

Author: benpaco

Posted: 09/15/2013 06:04

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x735wm_xtc-the-man-who-sailed-around-his-s_music

Link

Link

Somehow there are no youtube videos of that XTC one, sorry.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

rayword45 — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 01:01:59 GMT

Author: rayword45

Posted: 09/15/2013 05:01

Link

I only know that song from a game, but still, Jesus Christ...

A milder example would be Never the Machine Forever by Soundgarden. The 9/8 makes the song both offputting and amazing. Several other Soundgarden songs as well.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

AlexZangari — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:04:58 GMT

Author: AlexZangari

Posted: 09/15/2013 00:04

I once wrote a piano piece that was pretty normal until the end bit when at the same time the left hand played in 4/4 and the right in 3/4.

Re: Songs with time signatures that are hard to follow

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 19:03:51 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/14/2013 23:03

Odd time signatures are a staple of Radiohead's music, so I sometimes have trouble playing along to them. Listening usually isn't a problem, though.

I used to write songs in odd time signatures for my band in grad school to help us practice cohesion. Don't know if it worked, but it was fun.