Songs that use 12/8 time

12/8 sort of sounds like a complex, strange time signature, but in fact, it is a very common and very natural sounding metre. It gives the music a distinctive swinging shuffle sound which propels the rhythm of the music forward.

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0:00 What is 12/8 time?
1:11 12/8 vs. 4/4
3:31 The “Purdie” Shuffle
4:33 12/8 shuffle
5:21 12/8 vs. 6/8
6:31 Polyrhythms
7:27 What if 12/8 was grouped like an odd meter?

[komavid]

All the songs in the latest Disney film "Encanto" are in 4/4, except for "Waiting on a miracle", which is in 12/8, to reflect that Mirabel is literally at a different rhythm than the rest of the family.

[FromGroundToMud]

Two years ago I mixed "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" with "You've Got A Friend In Me" and now I understand why it worked.

[thedogfromraditude]

From my experience, the 12/8 time signature is perfect for a workout song. A sizable amount of my workout mix uses it. The swinging/shuffle rhythm just really gets you moving at a steady pace.

[meredithinserra]

When I hear Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" I hear 12/8, but it's written in 4/4 with triplets. I discussed this with a friend and fellow music theory enthusiast and she reminded me that during Beethoven's time 12/8 was associated with pastoral and folk songs. In other words in his time composers wouldn't have chosen to notate a CLASSICAL piece in 12/8 even if it sounded like 12/8. Interesting, isn't it.

[zerronyx]

I love how 12/8 sounds insanely exotic but its really just 4/4 in triplets

[rhaleymusic]

I always use Fleetwood Mac’s “Hypnotized” when I demonstrate 12/8 to my classes…no mistaking that feel there!

[danielburns]

"City of Tears" from Hollow Knight by Christopher Larkin uses a harp that plays every beat in the 12/8 time signature. It is really cool because as the harp goes in the background, the melody only emphasizes the four main beats which makes it sound fast and slow at once. Fun to play on piano too!

[GarethDaviesNZ]

One of my favourite instances of 12/8 is the second half of Muse's Knights of Cydonia. I love the rollicking energy when the drums kick in.

[therefore]

8:42
There's a genre of music that uses that pattern a lot; flamenco, a genre of music and dance of Spain. There are different styles of flamenco (known in Spanish as "palos") and there's one named "bulerías" whose rhythmic pattern consists in two groups of three and three groups of two (it's in 12/8). But that's not the only "palo" that uses that pattern, also the "soleá", the "bulería por soleá", the "alegrías", etc, whose time signatures are 12/8 too.

The pattern is like this:
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 2
But it has a detail: the accent isn't in the first pulse of each group of three and two, but at the end of each other, like this:
1 2*3* 1 2*3* 1*2* 1*2* 1*2*

[maxwellclark]

SO GLAD you brought up Purdie. I look forward to teaching every one of my drum students the shuffle once they're up to that level.

[kdub]

Most of the intro section to Yes's "Close to the Edge" is in a pretty overt 12/8. Other sections modulate that into more of a 6/4 grouping.

[shrymptid]

The song "Schism" by Tool is a pretty good example of the irregular 12/8 rhythm you came up imo. It even juxtaposes it against the regular 12/8 rhythm!

[cactuspeach]

Love how you brought up the 4/4 triplets thing! This year in choir we had to sing a song where a section in 4/4 had those same kinds of triplets played over a straight 4/4 melody - it was really frustrating to read and nobody could understand how it was supposed to sound. It was only once I actually listened to the song with a 12/8 feel that I actually got how it was supposed to sound

[drummermomcjs]

12/8 is such a versatile time signature as it lends itself to so many possibilities. Playing poly-rhythmic patterns or multi-meter stuff is especially great in 12/8. THis is a great video with insightful information. Thank you for sharing.

[ashlarta]

Run Away With Me by Carly Rae Jepsen. What’s amazing to me is despite the fact that this song is solidly in 12/8 it doesn’t feel like a shuffle or a swing at all

[shir_jr]

IIYC, the classical "Walk" by Pantera is in 12/8. The main riff really digs this time signature

[zester]

Carry On by Fun. is one of my favorite songs, and also a good example of using polyrhythms in 12/8. Its main piano riff switches from dividing the bar into 6 pairs of 2 eight notes, and 4 trios of 3 eight notes. It gives the song a lot of rhythmic interest, especially when contrasted with the drums, which remain steady and constantly divide the bar into 4 strong beats, even when the other instruments don't.

Edit: It's also where I first saw the trend of transcribing songs that could be in 12/8 as 4/4 with triplets, like what you mentioned in the video :)

[Blu-Meanie]

Every song is in 4/4 if we all stop being nerds about it

[JustinGamesJG]

Never been a music student. I would just sometimes see people in the comments of songs discussing the time signature they were in and I got curious. I have to say that you really helped me understand this, so thanks. It's pretty difficult to learn when you have no prior knowledge in this subject, and after a LOT of videos, this has helped me the most.

[lucapatitucci]

In the song Distan Early Warning by Rush, the little bridge section that's played many times throughout the song is made up by four bars of 7/8 and two bars of 12/8. The 12/8 is divided into 3+2+3+2+2. This is the only example I can think of 12/8 used without the triplet feel. Great video thanks!