The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Part 2:
Rhythms
68
Let’s take the four-quarter-notes-to-a-measure form we used in the previous
chapter. Because we have four beats in a measure, the top number in the time
signature is a four. Because the basic beat is a quarter note, the bottom number
is a four (as in the 4 in 1/4). So the standard form we’ve been using is called
“four four” time (because of the 4 on top of the 4), and looks like this:
The time signature for 4/4 meter.
Other time signatures follow this same form. For example, if our measures have
three beats instead of four, and still use a quarter note for the beat, we have a
3/4 time signature. If you have three beats per measure but the basic beat is an
eighth note instead of a quarter note, that time signature is “three eight,” or 3/8.
Read on to learn more about the different types of time signatures you’re likely
to encounter in the world of music.
Quarter-Note Time
The most common types of time signatures use a quarter note for the base beat.
However, you’re not limited to just four beats (quarter notes) per measure;
quarter-note time signatures can have as few as one beat per measure, or as
many as … well, as many as you like!
Although 4/4 is the most common quarter-note time signature, you’ll almost
definitely run into its close cousin, 3/4. In 3/4 time, you have three quarter
notes per measure; the measures are counted “one two three, one two three.” If
you’ve ever heard a waltz, you’ve heard 3/4 time.
Another common quarter-note time signature is 2/4 time. This time signature
is common in marches and other fast music, and is very easy to play. After all,
two measures of 2/4 add up to one measure of 4/4!
Less common are quarter-note time signatures with more than four beats per
measure. For example, 5/4 time feels a little awkward, especially if you’re used
to feeling the “backbeat” in a 4/4 pop song. But jazz musicians play a lot of
5/4—just listen to the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s famous recording of “Take Five”
if you want to hear a good example of playing in five.
The following table shows some of the more common quarter-note time signa-
tures.
Classical musicians tend
to refer to the organization
of beats as “meter,” while
jazz and pop musicians
tend to refer to it as “time,”
as in “4/4 meter” or
“4/4 time.”
Note
In most rock and pop
music, the second and
fourth beats of a measure
are accented, typically by
the drummer, like this: one
TWO three FOUR, one
TWO three FOUR. (When
you clap your hands to a
song, you’re probably clap-
ping on two and four.)
This heavy “backbeat” is
what gives rock-and-roll its
rolling rhythm; it is so com-
mon that it’s noticeable
when it is absent.
Note

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Chapter 6:
Time Signatures
Quarter-Note Time Signatures