KVR Audio

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:01 am

I see that there are alot of theories as to the meter of this song. I can count out some bits of it in 5/4 but it does seem to switch meter a few times. yer opinion?

shanecgriffo · Post by **shanecgriffo** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:17 am

its all pretty random meandering i think ..haha..
no, actually i started to work it out this week.. it seems mostly sort of in 5/4
but i think it works better if you just count how many times he hits each chord as there are wierd pauses etc. I imagine he may have come up with the timing with the help of a bit of computer assistance and then learnt how to play it for live performance... maybe, but its just a guess.

Watto · Post by **Watto** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:17 am

It's in 4/4. The accents just aren't on the bar. If you have a listen to this:

http://files.simonwatson.com.au/kvr/pyramid.mp3

...you'll hear the dodgy click added to 8 bars of the song (where the drums come in). I'm pretty sure (didn't listen to the whole song just then) the whole song follows suit.

IMO

Watto · Post by **Watto** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:20 am

Oh, they're playing triplets in the 4/4 obviously, as it's swung. Incidentally, I probably shouldn't leave that up for long - not sure you're allowed to do that.

shanecgriffo · Post by **shanecgriffo** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:25 pm

It's in 4/4. The accents just aren't on the bar. If you have a listen to this:

hmm, i'm not convinced there i dont think

tommy_d · Post by **tommy_d** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:44 pm

shanecgriffo wrote:
It's in 4/4. The accents just aren't on the bar. If you have a listen to this:
hmm, i'm not convinced there i dont think

Nor me, TBH.

As far as I can tell it's actually entirely regular, in that it's the same 16 beat scheme throughout. I think how you interpret that scheme is to some extent a subjective thing: you COULD say "it's just 4 common time bars with the accents displaced", but it doesn't feel like that to me. I hear:

3 + 2, 3 + 3, 2 + 3

(i.e. 1 bar of 3/4, 1 bar of 2/4, 2 bars of 3/4, 1 bar of 2/4, 1 bar of 3/4)

(or, if you prefer: 1 bar of 5/4 [3+2], 2 bars of 3/4, 1 bar of 5/4 [2+3])

= 16 beats in total

...but I've only played along with it a couple of times so I could be wrong...

Hewitt Huntwork · Post by **Hewitt Huntwork** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:26 pm

I just tried counting along. I'm usually pretty good with that but no luck this time.

be · Post by be » Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:38 pm

You can put the whole chord sequence into one measure, then it's easiest to see it as 8/4 with quarter duoles (or doublets, or what's it called in english?) and quarters.

In fact, it doesn't feel like a regular measure, but since it's the same rhythmic pattern throughout the song, it's most conveniently described as 4/4 or rather 8/4.

fac · Post by **fac** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:19 pm

It is 4/4, yeah. And I can play it on the drums. To play it, however, one must forget about time signatures, and just feel the song.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:21 pm

Isn't that song polyrhythmic? I seem to recall the piano being in 6/8 whilst the drums being in 4/4. Haven't listened to that album in a while though.

fac · Post by **fac** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:28 pm

Amberience wrote:Isn't that song polyrhythmic? I seem to recall the piano being in 6/8 whilst the drums being in 4/4. Haven't listened to that album in a while though.

One could say that, probably.

The piano part can be rythmically divided in three sections, each of which starts on a beat:

- 5/4 - first three chords
- 4/4 (2 measures) - next five chords
- 3/4 - next two chords

In total there's: 5 + 4*2 + 3 = 16 beats, which are four 4/4 measures. But that's not exactly polyrhymic (it would be, for example, if the piano and the drums followed different signatures, but the drums pretty much follow the piano). It's more a combination of signatures that overall has the same metric as a 4/4 signature, but very different accent.

tommy_d · Post by **tommy_d** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 6:53 pm

Hewitt Huntwork wrote:I just tried counting along. I'm usually pretty good with that but no luck this time.

Yeah, it's pleasantly deceptive. Because:

1. The chord changes don't always correspond to the barlines.

2. The chords in the 3/4 bars are dotted crotchets i.e. 2 in a bar

...but, erm, this 5/4, 3/4, 3/4, 5/4 thing is just the way I hear it...

be · Post by be » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:34 pm

Here's how I would write down the rhythm:

zeep · Post by **zeep** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:23 pm

Lol i just wanted to post about this song because i too always wonder about the beat. A quick google showed me a *possible* answer (along with this thread). Count 3 for all sides of a pyramid and then 4 for the bottom, that'll work nicely.

It's probably wrong but it'll do the trick for me from now on.

radiohead pyramid song meter