I can't get my head around 7/4 timing

jpfamps · January 2021

My understand of 7/4 time signature, is that you should count it depending on where the accents are, and thus need to split the count up to reflect this

For example in 4/4 the accents on the bass are often on beats 1 & 3

In 7/4 you may find it better to count it 1-2-3 / 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3-4 / 1-2-3 depending on where the accents are.

viz · January 2021

yup

Bezzer · January 2021

I count it as "Ta Ka Di Mi Ta Ki Da" now .... but I have spent most of lockdown on Mattias Eklundh's YouTube channel ...

stratcat · January 2021

Money's a 3 and two 2's i.e. 123 45 67

stratcat · January 2021

Money's a 3 and two 2's i.e. 123 45 67

viz · January 2021

I think it’s a 4 and a 3 lol (or two 2s and a 3)

jpfamps · January 2021

Fight!

viz · January 2021

jpfamps said:

Fight!

I was in the right, yes, absolutely in the right. I certainly was in the right. That geezer is cruising for a bruising.

stratology · January 2021

Odd meters are combinations of 2s and 3s.

There are two ways to play 5/4:

12-123 (2+3)
123-12 (3+2)

There are three ways to play 7/4:

12-12-123 (2+2+3)
12-123-12 (2+3+2)
123-12-12 (3+2+2)

In terms of phrasing, emphasis/accent is always on the 1.

If you play uninterrupted quarter notes, 12 is downstroke-upstroke with the pick, 123 is downstroke-upstroke-downstroke.

So playing the 2+2+3 variation of 7/4 goes: down-up-down-up-down-up-down---down-up-down-up-down-up-down---down-up-down-up-down-up-down---...

'Take Five' uses the 3+2 variant of 5/4. So you never count it 12345, you count 123-12---123-12---123-12---...

Ché · January 2021

Interestingly, with "Money" I find myself counting it along with accented notes of the bass. Bobbing your head on the beats in bold gives you a sense of the swing

One, two, three, one, two, three, four

The first beat starts with your head bobbing down and starts again with your head bobbing up, once it repeats you'll be bobbing your head down on the first beat again.

hotpickups · January 2021

Whistler said:

For Pink Floyd's Money I would suggest counting 12345 12 or 12 123 12

Also, if it's any help / comforting even David Gilmour had trouble with Money's timing issue. That's why the guitar solo goes into 4/4 because David could play to it better.

True story which I read somewhere

stratcat · January 2021

viz said:

jpfamps said:

Fight!

I was in the right, yes, absolutely in the right. I certainly was in the right. That geezer is cruising for a bruising.

Ha ha, I'm far too old for that playground stuff anymore.

Money is a descending pattern of crotchet, dotted quaver-semiquaver, crotchet, before a four crotchet rising figure. There is a strong feeling of stopping on the third beat crotchet before the rising figure ie 3, 2, 2.
The beauty of these uneven time signatures is that they can be ambiguous, that's their thing.

viz · February 2021

stratcat said:

viz said:

jpfamps said:

Fight!

I was in the right, yes, absolutely in the right. I certainly was in the right. That geezer is cruising for a bruising.

Ha ha, I'm far too old for that playground stuff anymore.

Money is a descending pattern of crotchet, dotted quaver-semiquaver, crotchet, before a four crotchet rising figure. There is a strong feeling of stopping on the third beat crotchet before the rising figure ie 3, 2, 2.
The beauty of these uneven time signatures is that they can be ambiguous, that's their thing.

and just to be 100% clear, my quote was taken from the speech bit at the end of Money - I don't really think you're cruising for a bruising!

Grunfeld · February 2021

I was trying to work this out earlier and doing it by feel is okay and I'm counting it in bits.

I suppose it must have some time signatures but I'm not sure what they are.

And even though I've known this song for nearly 40 years I hadn't noticed the time signature thing*

Siouxsie and The Banshees, Into The Light

*someone's gonna tell me it's 4/4 and I'm counting it arse upwards

DiscoStu · February 2021

You know it's just counting to seven, right?

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I can't get my head around 7/4 timing

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