Anybody using weird time signatures?

[duncanparsons]

well, well...

I'm actually just finishing off a piece that I will release here as a guess the sig competition (no prizes, save for the respect and admiration of your fellow KVRers!). It'll be early next week...

Also, I have done a version of one of my favourite hymns 'He Who would Valiant be' (To Be a Pilgrim). It has a groove, and to make sure that the stresses in the melody line up with the groove, it has meant a structure of:
4/4 groove entry
6/4|4/4|3/4|4/4|4/4|x2
6/4|3/4|5/4|2/4|4/4|7/4|
4/4 groove out

I'll post it tomorrow,

My favourite time sig joke is:
'This song was written in 1988, but we're going to play it in 4/4'..

I have found 7/8 to be the most appealing, but like 15/8 over a solid 4/4 pulse to work well.. very slidy.
I wrote a drum solo based around paradiddles and adding occasional extra notes which turned out as alternating bars of 14/8 and 15/8. This was played with a bass drum/ HiHat pulse in 4/4, bass on 1 & 3, Hats pedalled on 3. The shifting nature of the accents against the feet was a killer to play, but somehow danceable to listen to (I'm told).

Fairport Convention have a habit of making odd time sigs very danceable, and King Crimson did a good job of trying to hide their odd sigs in the early 80s when it was desperately infashionable to play them. My favourite one from that period is the break in Neurotica (on Beat). I have never quite fathomed what the framework is there, it's tooooooo smooooth!

anyway, watch over the next few days..

(it might not be that exciting!)

DSP

[Markleford]

My favourite one from that period is the break in Neurotica (on Beat). I have never quite fathomed what the framework is there, it's tooooooo smooooth!

I play the drum part as 12+2 beats (4 4 4 2). Your mileage will vary for other instruments.

- m

[simonw]

Check out these Soundgarden tracks for wierd signatures. Some of them even have alternative signatures for Verse, Chorus, etc. Even if this type of music is not your thing, it these might give some inspiration and ideas...

(BadMotorFinger album)
Outshined
Face Pollution

(Superunknown album)
Spoonman
The day I tried to live
Limo Wreck

Your got 7/4 7/8 5/4 and even a bit of 15/16 if memory serves correctly.

[Har]

Check out these Soundgarden tracks for wierd signatures. Some of them even have alternative signatures for Verse, Chorus, etc. Even if this type of music is not your thing, it these might give some inspiration and ideas...

(BadMotorFinger album)
Outshined
Face Pollution

(Superunknown album)
Spoonman
The day I tried to live
Limo Wreck

Your got 7/4 7/8 5/4 and even a bit of 15/16 if memory serves correctly.

Yes indeed! Another one of theirs was "My Wave", which I believe was in 5/4. And if I remember right, "Room a Thousand Years Wide" (probably my fave from BadMotorFinger) was another, in something like 6/4.

Also, the core riff from one of the more recent Foo Fighters singles, "Times Like These", I believe is in something like 7/8.

Again: it's definitely possible to do this stuff and still have a natural, un-forced feel.

[thenumber23]

I'm proud of my song 789 which I wrote many years ago. It's unique and not just because of its time signature. See if you can guess why (though the title is more than a giveaway )

789

It's Soundclick, so scroll to the bottom of the page (last song) and click "play Hi-Fi" so you don't have to register.

Brian