Rythm and Tempo

[MiyaDV]

Hey, I just got into the world of digital music a couple months ago, played around with DAWs etc

Anyway I really started to make some songs the past weeks, I thought they sounded good and everything was excited to make the next one then when I went to add a drum track I could not do it no matter what, I searched up info on internet etc I just didn't get it then I came along a post "you gotto play to a metronome" then I found out about this stuff.

I mean, I already noticed patterns in most songs but, I didn't know they were following a rule to get those patterns.

Anyway I made some songs mixing different instruments together, couldn't get drums to sound right, found out my songs go like 3 pattern, 2 pattern, 3 pattern, some random stuff slow down go back up etc

now for like 5 days I've been completely focused on these two subjects trying to understand them etc How do I follow a metronome, can I change the tempo at will if my song is 4/4 (since the song only speeds up, but the patterns stay the same)

Am I suppose to play a new pattern in every 4 beats of a metronome? can I play one big pattern through 16 beats of a metronome? how do I find the tempo for my sogn (this one really confused me) I tried abunch of things but everytime I think I got the right tempo for the melody I end up adjusting my playing to the tempo and playing at a speed I didn't want to...

Do you HAVE to follow a rythm? Can rythms change throughout songs? All the songs I lsiten'd lately follow almost the same pattern and I haven't found one yet that changes the rythm, they go like: "1, 11, 1, 1111" or like "11, 11, 1111, 1111" within what I think to be a set of 4 metronome taps





Quick Summary:

Had no idea about Tempo & Rythms,
Made some songs, thought they sounded good but couldn't get drums mixed in cause they didn't follow a specific rythm
Got obsessed with Rythm and Tempo and don't understand it fully.

I'm currently fixing one of the songs to have a proper rythm or pattern whatever and it's taking me longer then it did to make it argh

[tapper mike]

Writing a drum pattern after the fact if you cannot establish the tempo and time signature is next to impossible.


I would suggest to you that you learn about tempo, time signature and m pattern structures separately then try to apply them to the music you wish to right in the future rather then try to work backwards and guess on a framework you had no clue to previously.

[MiyaDV]

Thanks for the tips, I looked up time signatures and found out some songs use weird ones like 11/6 12/8 etc. I'm not sure I understood it too well Anyway I think that is the thing I'm having some trouble with atm

I'm going to post some examples, I hope they arn't confusing, if you guys can help me understand this more.

I'm not talking about drums here, I know drums have to have a pattern I'm talking about meloyd or chorods so:

4/4 is 1 2 3 4 in a metronome so:

1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2

would be 8/4 right?

so

1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4

would be 16/4 right?

If we did this:

1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 . .

that would be 14/4, but we have to wait the extra 2 counts to start playing again right?

I think I'm correct so far, here's where I start getting a bit confused:

If we do:

1 2, 1, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4 5

Is that allowed? If it is does that mean we can do any amount of notes we want within the /4 bar as long as we split them by 4's ? i.e.

Can we do this:

123456789,123,12345,123456789
12,12345,123,123456789
123,123456789,1234,12
12345,12345,123456,12345

that's 4 different metronomes, but were splitting the playing in 4's, and each set is different

Or do we have to keep some sort of pattern going such as this:
12345,12345,12345,123456789
12345,12345,12345,123456789
12,123,12345,12345
12,123,12345,12345

ok, say 4/4 is 1 bar

if we have 4 bars, do we have to play in a pattern of 2's, or 4's for that? or are we allowed to play like 3/4 of a bar, then add some random things, then start again next bar

example:

1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2,
1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2,
1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2,
1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2,

example:

1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2,
1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,

example
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4 5, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2 3 5





I'm sorry I think I confused myself while writing this, I tried to make myself clear here's a quick TLDR version:

if following a 4 tap metronome, are there rules?


I think I understand it musically, when lisetning and playing but for some reason when I try to read it or put it down I get so confused... I just wanna make sure for my next song I don't mess it up lol

[tapper mike]

Your counting system is.....not inline with standards

Tempo is a speed rate determined by the quarter note value.
It is expressed as beats per minute. There are four quarter notes in a measure of music that written in 4/4 time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_per_ ... per_minute

Counting the beat means exactly that.
Let's take a common time signature 4/4
1,2,3,4
Repeat
1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,

Okay how many measures was that?
In this example beats 1 and 2 are a kick drum. Beats 3 and 4 are a snare drum
http://tappermike.com/kvr/4count.html

Be patient it takes time to load
Count along with the beat. I've set up different tempi you can see me adjusting the tempo in the video

The next example is called a straight 8 it is still a 4/4 time signature.
Beats are subdivided equally into 1/8 notes
The way to count it is:
1 and 2 and 3 and four and

1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and

Note you will not see the and in the below example again count aloud and include the ands
In this example the "ands" are a closed hihat.
Try and count aloud and include the ands even though they are not shown.
http://tappermike.com/kvr/8beat1.html

The next is a 12/8 pattern. When one divides the quarter note into three's they are called triplets. The common counting practice is
1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
http://tappermike.com/kvr/triplet.html
Just like before kick and snare work the 1/4 beat hihat plays the "and a"

The last example again is 4/4 but it utlilizes a 16th note pattern.
The common counting practice is.
1-e-and-a-2-e-and-a-3-e-and-a-4-e-and-a-
Same again kick and snare on the quarter beats hihat on the "e and a"
http://tappermike.com/kvr/16beat.html

Now your lesson is to listen to music. Listen to the music and find the beat.
Count it out aloud.

[MiyaDV]

Dude, thank you!

I can't believe how simple it was, I spent a few hours counting to the metronome and now any drum track I add goes perfectly about, I can't believe how much of a necessarily it is to know that to be able to compose songs lol I think I might have to just try to replay the other two songs I made I mean, I spent like a day automating the tempo moving notes around that was just annoying and didn't work too well lol

Oh yeah and that 16/4 one took a while on 90tempo, I can't imagine people going much faster inless their on speed lol

[jancivil]

4/4 is 1 2 3 4 in a metronome so:

1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2
would be 8/4 right?

so 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4
would be 16/4 right?

if the 8 or 16 happens in the same amount of time as 4 ticks of the metronome it will still be 4/4, possibly expressed as 8/8 or 16/16. This isn't clear from what you typed. 8/4 takes up twice the time of 4/4, etc.

If we did this: 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 . .

that would be 14/4, but we have to wait the extra 2 counts to start playing again right?

No.
14 as you imagine it there is just 14 out of 16. 14/4 is fourteen beats and no pause; no numerator in a time signature amounts to an incomplete larger numerator.

...

if your 14 was at the same rate as 16ths [four times faster than your given quarter note], 14/16 = 3 and a half quarters; or 7/8. If it is quarter notes and you haven't changed your metronome basis, 14/4 is 3 and a half times as long as 4/4.