Songs with Unconventional Time Signatures

[TraderJake]

Well, if you've clicked into this thread you either know what a time signature is or you are just curious as to what this thread is about. Well, most modern music is written in a time signature known as 4/4. For those of you without any musical know how, the top 4 implies 4 beats per measure while the bottom 4 implies that the beat falls on the quarter note. Generally, it is really easy to the time signature in modern songs because generally something dramatic falls on the down beat (beat 1). After 9 years of being a musician, you become intuned to these sort of things. (Hooray Band!). Anyways, I always find it interesting when I find modern music that is not in the conventional 4/4 time signature, and it's even more of a treat when that music happens to be good. Well, this is a thread where I just point out songs with unconventional time signatures that are interesting.

The first song I'll call out is "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" by Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan likes to screw around with the waltz time signature (3/4), but in this song the from the point where people start singing to the end the song is in 7/4, which is something I've never heard before. Check it out:



I think it's pretty damn cool. Have any of you guys found a song that truly kicks ass with a strange time signature? If so, tell us about it here.

[Sirgin]

Special song indeed.


I believe this is in 5/4, not too sure anymore but it's certainly not 4/4 so it suits this thread.

Isengard Theme - Lord of the Rings

[TraderJake]

Yeah, I think that is 5/4. That's pretty rare as well.

[Sirgin]

Yeah, I think that is 5/4. That's pretty rare as well.

Yup. I know it's not an actual song but a movie theme but it sounds awesome anyway.

[Tondog]

I have no clue how to tell time signatures...

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

I know the Beatles used some weird time sigs. I used to pay attention to the stuff.

[blcklblskt]

I think Breaking Benjamin's song "So Cold" had a crazy time sig.  Its like 7/4 or 7/8 (not sure if 7/8 is even possible)

[hXd]

Just listen to a Dillinger Escape Plan record.

[logical123]

Mr. Supercomputer is in 7/4 the whole song. Start counting from the first beat. The intro with the generated pulses falls on the upbeats, making it sound like 3/4.

[TraderJake]

Nah, the intro is 4/4, other Sufjan Songs are 3/4.

[XFactorInfinity]

Man, I love experimental music. Some stuff:

Venitian Snares, guys. Mostly in 7/4ths time, some of it's in 11/4ths and he goes for 19/3s in one I think. Ridiculous.

As an example:



Experimental electronica in general is pretty wacked out timesig wise.

Upon first listen you might not notice it...but have you ever tried dancing to Outkast's Hey Ya before? It's moderately more difficult then you'd think thanks to the wacky stuff they did with their beat. Listen closely to the drums.



And finally, as a bonus, here's a Gorillaz song with a title of 5/4. Guess why it's called that?



It also happens to be one of my fave Damon Albarn tracks. Mmmhm.

[Sirgin]

Upon first listen you might not notice it...but have you ever tried dancing to Outkast's Hey Ya before? It's moderately more difficult then you'd think thanks to the wacky stuff they did with their beat. Listen closely to the drums.

Sorry to dissapoint you, but the Outkast song is a normal 4/4.

Listen to the snare. If you count the snares you'll notice you can count to 4 and it loops again in the same rhythm.

A drumline like that is very, very common in Hiphop/RnB. I'm not sure how to describe it, but unlike, say, techno, Hiphop tends to place some of its kickdrums on "off" beats.

Try to listen to more Hiphop songs and you'll find "irregular" drumlines very often.

Hmmm, if I listen to that Gorillaz song, I'm pretty sure that's 4/4 too.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Upon first listen you might not notice it...but have you ever tried dancing to Outkast's Hey Ya before? It's moderately more difficult then you'd think thanks to the wacky stuff they did with their beat. Listen closely to the drums.

Sorry to dissapoint you, but the Outkast song is a normal 4/4.

Listen to the snare. If you count the snares you'll notice you can count to 4 and it loops again in the same rhythm.

A drumline like that is very, very common in Hiphop/RnB. I'm not sure how to describe it, but unlike, say, techno, Hiphop tends to place some of its kickdrums on "off" beats.

Try to listen to more Hiphop songs and you'll find "irregular" drumlines very often.

Hmmm, if I listen to that Gorillaz song, I'm pretty sure that's 4/4 too.

Wat?

No way Hey Ya is 4/4, I can't even count what time signature that is, more than 8 though, certainly. Likewise, along with the title of the song actually being 5/4, I can hear 5/4 quite easily in the Gorillaz track.

Even if you can't count the beats you should be able to tell when a song isn't quite steady. Outkast's song makes your head hurt if you listen closely...

[logical123]

We talked about hey ya in the chat. There is no real time signature. It goes 6/4, 4/4, 2/4, repeat. So yeah.

[Sirgin]

No way Hey Ya is 4/4, I can't even count what time signature that is, more than 8 though, certainly. Likewise, along with the title of the song actually being 5/4, I can hear 5/4 quite easily in the Gorillaz track.

Even if you can't count the beats you should be able to tell when a song isn't quite steady. Outkast's song makes your head hurt if you listen closely...

The snare is perfectly steady.

Kickdrum loop =/= time signature.

Both songs are 4/4, but I can understand people thinking they're not.