Everything's In 4/4!

[David H]

Its an obvious and blatant exaggeration, of course. But does it seem to you that 4/4 is decidedly overused? Turn on any radio station, go ahead, do it. Rock, rap, mariachi, it don't matter. Dollars to donuts whatever song is playing will be in the most common time signature around. Granted; theres a reason why this is the most widely used time; although I sure don't know how it came about as such. And don't get me wrong, sometimes its used well (see: Funk). But more often than not, its the same old predictable One-Snare-Two-Snare-Three-Snare-Short Fill-Cymbal! Would it kill a band to play something in 5 every once and a while? Even 3? Is really this too much to ask?

[WyleKeaton]

It's the most common dance beat going - even "rock" bands are (ab)using it more often. It's what makes a song go from a mundane track to a Pop hit. Sometimes it's okay - but 4 on the floor to me says Disco an Disco sucks!

[neuros]

Cures for this: Start listening to Aphex Twin, The Bad Plus, Amon Tobin, King Crimson... To name a few who do a good job at using.... er, unconventional timing.

[David H]

King Crimson, Tool, Dave Brubeck. I do my best to get away but it just keeps pulling me back in

[dave_p]

some odd time signatures are just awkward, and sound awkward.

also, dont confuse syncopation with odd time signatures.

[VertigoJ]

Check out the song "Dublin Waltz" by Monty Are I. It's 3/4 and it's also a fantastic song. I think Dream Theather does some crazy things to.

I like 4/4, but I do agree that sometimes it needs to be changed up a bit.

[pavedwave]

For starters...

Lots and Lots of Rush (thanks to Neil Peart)
Lots of Frank Zappa
Pink Floyd - Money
Jeff Beck - Space Boogie
Sting - 7 Days
Allman Bros - Whipping Post (Zappa's version is much better!!)

[Momona Boe]

um...isn't that why they call it "common time"?

[Divebomber02]

opeth is a great band to check out if your into interesting bands, i dunno, listen to dream theater or something, or jazz, 4/4 sounds most pleasing to the ears and is easy to keep up with

[CasterTown]

check out "mongrel" by dj shadow if you need a break.

That song has an awesome and unique rhythm.

[xlok1x]

If you TRULY want to break away from "conventional timing" check out:

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN
MySpace.com - The Dillinger Escape Plan - Morris Plains, NEW JERSEY - Metal / Hardcore / Alternative - www.myspace.com/dillingerescapeplan

the whole miss machine album is amazing
great songs in particular:
"Sunshine the werewolf"
"Panasonic Youth"
and "Unretrofied"



SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY
MySpace.com - SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY! (on tour now!!!) - Bay City / Frankenmuth / Lansing, Michigan - Grindcore / Death Metal / Experimental - www.myspace.com/seeyounexttuesday

I recommend "Honey I've never had sex that wasn't awkward"
and "8 dead, 9 if you count the fetus"




if you don't like metal/chaos
you probably wont like them

but if you can get through any metal song without going "wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh they're screaming wahhhhh" then you will most certainly find something to love about them.

[Mystery Bob]

um...isn't that why they call it "common time"?

I've been called a "common tally-whacker!"

[TM_Cruzer]

Its an obvious and blatant exaggeration, of course. But does it seem to you that 4/4 is decidedly overused? Turn on any radio station, go ahead, do it. Rock, rap, mariachi, it don't matter. Dollars to donuts whatever song is playing will be in the most common time signature around. Granted; theres a reason why this is the most widely used time; although I sure don't know how it came about as such. And don't get me wrong, sometimes its used well (see: Funk). But more often than not, its the same old predictable One-Snare-Two-Snare-Three-Snare-Short Fill-Cymbal! Would it kill a band to play something in 5 every once and a while? Even 3? Is really this too much to ask?

Actually the only two songs i've ever written were in 6/4 and 3/4. hmmm.... also, look up 442

[Jay Gleason]

Yeah dude. I know what you're saying. I can't listen to the radio. It makes me sick. I listen to a lot of extreme and progressive death metal, and there's all kinds of odd times that a bunch of bands are using. random bars of 5 thrown in, or a lot of it is in 7/8. 19/16. 11/8. weird stuff. It rules. Opeth is awesome. I've seen em live a couple of times. Nile, the faceless, beneath the massacre, behemoth, odious mortem are some good ones. Of course Dream theater is like the flagship of prog these days and they abuse that stuff too. Old mahavishnu orchestra is pretty nuts with the timing, a lot of 9/8. I'm probably rambling, but, i'm a musician myself and i cant help it!

[mc99david]

the trouble is that really, most musicians cant play anything else, and most listeners cant handle listening to it either.. i mean, how many people do you know that have a hard enough time finding the 1 in 4/4. pop music will never be much else than that because it wont sell.

[David H]

For starters...

Lots and Lots of Rush (thanks to Neil Peart)
Lots of Frank Zappa
Pink Floyd - Money
Jeff Beck - Space Boogie
Sting - 7 Days
Allman Bros - Whipping Post (Zappa's version is much better!!)

all terrific songs, but Money, while in 7/8 for most of it, switches to 4/4 for a bit in the middle for the sax/geetar solo.

[tubadude012]

Best yet even if it isn't in 4/4, it follows the good ol' I-IV-V (C-F-G) chord progression (

YouTube - Pachelbel Rant

)

I'm quite partial to 5/4 myself but if you're looking for something fun listen to BT's This Binary Universe on there there's a song called The Internal Locus with a neat Debussy-esque piano solo that alternates between 17/8 and 16/8. It almost seems like a good part to slalom to.

And I've noticed quite a few of the popular "slow songs" are in 3/4 making it good to waltz to if you're into that kind of thing...

then again this coming from someone who played tuba....

P.S.

Dream theater is like the flagship of prog these days and they abuse that stuff too.

you have to admit though Dream Theater does get pretty crazy with their time signatures. I remember seeing quite a bit of their sheet music that had polyrythmns. i.e. a note in the keyboard part that said something along the lines of "Don't rely on drums for beat, they are in a different time signature of ______" (something crazy like 17/4)

[big_loaf]

Oh god, I absolutely 100% agree with you. The radio makes me vomit in a matter of seconds! 4/4 is widely used because it's easy for "the masses" to tap their foot to, and because it just sounds "right". Another huge contributing factor is that the majority of musicians would look at you with a blank stare if you asked them to play something in 5/4, 7/4 etc.
It's harder to learn how to play music in odd time signatures, and most people are lazy, plain and simple. I learned (and continue to learn) odd time stuff because I was bored with "normal" music, and I'm a far better musician because of it. Yes, it's more work, but in the long run it's worth it.


On the topic of bands and such, I don't think we can safely agree on who's good and who's not by the looks of it. I will say this though, since they were both mentioned earlier....Opeth = Big no. Dream Theater = Big yes. I saw them both live a couple weeks ago on the same bill, so I feel my opinion is valid on the matter. Opeth shat the bed; straight up sucked ass. People were actually walking out of the theater they were so bad. I used to not mind them, but they've never been my cup of tea, so perhaps I am a bit biased on the matter. However, to compare Opeth and Dream Theater is to compare an apple to an orange. Sure, they both play heavy stuff, but one is head and shoulders above the other in musicianship and interesting music...

[moldyghosty]

Back in the day.... way back in the day classical composers would tell you that it's easiest to
compose in 3/4. But now that 99.9% of what we hear is in 4/4, it has changed.

[HerBDerb]

I don't even know what's going on in here....