How Time Signatures Work

This lesson is on time signatures, how they work, and some simple methods on how to make sense of them. Covers some of the simple time signatures like 4/4, 3/4, 2/2, 5/4, etc., and I try to lay some foundation for the more complex ones like 6/8 or 9/8.

I feel like a lot of teachers and textbooks make these a lot harder than they should be. Hopefully this takes some of the mystery out of them.

Also, really sorry about the autofocus issues. I'll make sure that doens't happen in the next one. Again, don't buy a Sanyo.

[wilburash]

You are the first person who broke that down simply. And thanks for not killing people with background music.

[chokkybikky]

Hi Michael, I stumbled upon your lessons tonight. I've learned more in the last few hours than in 5 years of lessons many years ago in my teens!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do these vids! In my 50s now and loving my piano again after a 25 year break. Shame you and YouTube weren't around in my youth!! Your lessons are the best I've seen yet. X

[sylvandelacruz]

Hey, Michael, what would be REALLY cool, is a video of you teaching time signatures, AND playing examples of what each signature sounds like. That would really be helpful. That might also be fun for you and your students, since we don't really hear you play in your teaching videos. Thank you!!!

[MichaelNew]

Seems like modes is everybody's #1 request. I'll bump that up my list of vidoes-to-make.

[MichaelNew]

Well I have been looking for an excuse to buy a Go Pro...

[alllucky]

You know what would help the lesson go a long, long way? Audio examples of what you are talking about.. Imagine a lesson on various paint brush techniques, but never an example. Just words about it.

[lyndydaisy]

I am learning music in my 60's!  So thank you....your videos really help me go over and consolidate what I am learning.  Thanks so much.

[ashokranade]

Dear Michael
It has been a  great pleasure listening to your lectures which have great clarity. Still I have a question about the term quarter note .I thought of putting clarity in the question by doing a little calculation. Please bear with me.
Let us say BPM = 120 .So Beat time is 0.5 s. So  in 4/4 signature the quarter note lasts for 0.5 s. Now   measure time is 0.5x4 = 2 seconds. And the quarter note really occupies a quarter of measure time.
But  suppose we have 3/4 signature. Again, say, BPM is same so beat time is 0.5 s. So this is the duration of the quarter note. But now the measure time is 3x0.5 = 1.5 s. So quarter note does not really last for a quarter of measure time. Still it is called a quarter note? Or is it simply understood that a quarter note is a true quarter note only in relation to 4/4 signature?

[Deciantis]

Thanks for breaking down this information, It finally makes sense! Also, you look like the dude from "Back To The Future".

[MichaelNew]

You know the biggest thing keeping me from doing guitar lessons is actually the camera setup; I haven't figured out a good, clear way to record myself playing a guitar along with a whiteboard. If you (or anyone else) has seen anyone doing it right, please let me know.

[linnstudies]

It is the third video I've watched about time signature and the only one I could understand its meaning. thanks ♡

[Faerie_Kim]

Not just prog but also Jazz. 5 4 time is Brubeck's "Take Five". Brubeck was famous for messing around with time signatures

[patrickcummins]

I got into looking up time signatures as I know the band Tool and the genre of Math Rock, deal a lot with changing tie signatures.  Is there any way you could make a video breaking down specific examples of how Tool and/or Math Rock bands(I only know of one Math Rock band at the moment; Slint (specifically, their album Spiderland)) utilize unconventional or altering time signatures.  Just some food for thought for a future video.

[MichaelNew]

Oh man, that's a tough subject. I'll think about it. No promises though :)

[jonioden]

my lord how I wish I could understand this. I took music in school from 5th to high school, but watching your video, which apparently goes over well with other viewers, completely goes over my head.
ok, I play music by war and have created many beautiful songs on piano and guitar and would love to know what time signiture they're in. I wouldn't know if the tapping of my foot 4 times makes the measure, or tapping it twice as fast makes an equal measure just as accurate in half the space. I'm certain your lesson is spot on, but it left me just as hopeless as when I started.
thanks tho

[MichaelNew]

Sorry I left you for so long. Life gets a little overwhelming for me sometimes and unfortunately sometimes non-rent paying things like YouTube end up getting cut out. Glad you found Lypur though. I don't particularly like his teaching style but he has an incredible amount of content and is obviously a really awesome guy to put all that out there. I don't want to make any promises, but I am really going to try to do better with regular updates. Life permitting.

[MichaelNew]

Ah. In that case; no, it doesn't really work. That bottom number is just used to represent a note, and since there's no "third note", having a 3 as the bottom number doesn't really make sense. That bottom number is only ever powers of two.

[MichaelNew]

Actually, the term "odd time" doesn't have much of a technical meaning. It just means an unusual time signature. So 5/4 would be "odd time" just because it's not a normal time signature.

[BuisnessBacca]

I beg to differ when you say the top isn't beats/measure. While saying that there are two beats in 6/8 is technically correct, it would apply more for how the director would conduct the piece and the musician would count it with that time signature and/or the tempo of the piece. At allegro, I'd conduct in 2 and count "1, 2, 1, 2, ..." or "1-la-li, 2-la-li", but if the tempo were to be andante, I might conduct in 2, but subdivide it a "1-2-3-4-5-6". Now matter how you count it, there are still going to be six beats in a measure.

[MichaelNew]

Will do. I've got one more lesson on rhythm and then it's back to melody, harmony and composing.