Members Omar Rodriguez Posted May 5, 2009 Members Posted May 5, 2009 I can understand that in 4/4 time, there are 4 beats to a measure and therefore you're dividing the measure into 4 equal parts (quarter notes) But in 7/4 time, how do you divide 7 by 4? Am I looking at this in the wrong way? I'm really not very good with written notation or time signatures, but know my theory and rhythms pretty intuitively. It's just that when it comes to transcribing my music for other people or playing in band situations, it's hard to understand other people and get other people to understand me. Any help is appreciated!
Members jeremy_green Posted May 5, 2009 Members Posted May 5, 2009 I a time signature the top number tells you how many beats there are in a measure. the bottom number tells you what kind of not gets one beat. So in 4/4 there are 4 quarter notes per bar. (the bottom number if you tun it into a fraction as the bottom number it tells you what the note is so in the case of a number 4 on the bottom as a fraction it is 1/4 or quarter note. If it were an 8 on the bottom that would be 1/8 or eighth note.) So for 7/4 that means there are 7 quarter notes per bar. So you would count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 | 1,2... make sense?
Members lollygag Posted May 8, 2009 Members Posted May 8, 2009 time signitures are confusing, because sometimes we talk about them as fractions, BUT THEY ARE NOT FRACTIONS. the top number shows total number of beats and the lower number shows their division in relation to WHOLE NOTES. so the lower numbers often represent:4 is equivalent to a quarter note8, is 8th notes16, is 16th notes the upper number can really be anything, but convention usually rules the choices made. 2,3,4, are often used and I am assuming you know these. 6, 9 and 12 are often used to show triple meter, that is, 2, 3 or 4 beats of 8th notes. 3+3 (6/8) 3+3+3 (9/8) 3+3+3+3 (12/8) 5 and 7 are usually used for uneven beats, for example 3+2 eighth notes (5/8), or 2+3+2 (7/8) what if you had 7/4 in the example you used above? my guess is that it would be some combination of irregular quarter note beats. you might count it as "1-2-3 1-2-3-4." or "1- 2 1-2 1-2-3."
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