3/4 time i just don't get it

Or any other time signature for that matter. I get the rhythm in my head of 1,2,3 but thats it. I have no fuckin idea how to compose anything. Any drum beat I write sounds like shite. Fuck I wanna make some jazz music. No but seriously this shits a head fuck! :dizzy:

I guess, try listening to more tracks in 3/4 to get a feel for it?

I got no rhythm at all. I'm gonna get some piano lessons soon 'cause I really want to advance my music. I feel like my range needs to expand 'cause I really wanna be able to do some more jazzier complex shit and get a more freeform feel going in my tunes.

I just downloaded Weather Report's 'Teen Town' and the time is 4/4 which surprised me but like they have lots of percussion which is like out of sync but I guess in a different rhythm so you get like a cool combo. Pretty cool to look at but I feel in order to progress with 3/4 I need to understand the rhythm and actually be able to perform them.

i have the same problem.

  Kcinsu said:

I guess, try listening to more tracks in 3/4 to get a feel for it?

I would definitely agree with that. I studied Arabic and West African music for many years, and learning the feel of a new meter (or even "familiar" meters with different points of emphasis) was definitely the greatest challenge.

When I started to learn odd meters like 7/8, 9/8, etc, I found the best way was to simply work with one basic pattern over and over until it became internalized. Pick the simplest version of what you want to work with, and tap along with it until you can begin to improvise, and fill out the measures. Listen to lots of recordings, and play along with them.

After that, begin to listen more to the melodies, and how they work with the meter. I always think of the feel of a meter as being defined by its phrasing. You can work 3/4 in a variety of ways (see the above posts), and can think of it as 1+1+1, 1+2, or 2+1, or get even more when you work with several measures of 3/4. The point is to find out the phrasing- what are the statements in the sentence, and what are the commas, and where are the periods.

I hope that's useful.

LJG

certain time sigs tend towards certain styles of music, like 3/4 tends to sound like a polka or waltz.

i don't think there is a lot of 3/4 in jazz. try some fusion-style sigs like 7/8 or 5/4. can really inspire.

if you have a step sequencer handy, set it to one of these sigs and then just start placing kicks and snares while it loops 1-2 bars. you'll be able to tell which hits sound off and move/remove them.

also, try alternating sigs. like 1 bar of 8/8 followed by 1 bar of 7/8. or 4/4 and 5/4...

  Promo said:

Or any other time signature for that matter. I get the rhythm in my head of 1,2,3 but thats it. I have no fuckin idea how to compose anything. Any drum beat I write sounds like shite. Fuck I wanna make some jazz music. No but seriously this shits a head fuck! :dizzy:

I seriously can't get to grips with your problem to be honest, is it that you understand time signatures in principle but not in practice? 3/4 is one of the simplest of all. Perhaps, as has been suggested, you've not been exposed to it enough- but then i still can't really see what would be difficult to comprehend. A time signature (remember the big pointless thread about it before) is basically something which dictates the pulse of the music. If you latch on to the pulse then you should have no problem thinking and writing in any time signature (yes, even in the DREADED :getlost: 7/4).

3/4.. three crotchet beats,,, generally first beat is the accent.. ONE.. two three..ONE.. two three..

listen to a waltz.. that's three four time.

it's easy.

depending on where your accents are, i find it's best to divide 7/8 into 2,2 and three..

1 2 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 2 3... with the ones accented,, obviously this can change depending on the track.

maybe someone post some breaks with certain signatures... so us who are still trying to understand can tear the breaks apart to understand them rather than from "boom sha boom sha boom cha ting, boom sha boom sha boom cha ting" and so on.

the blue danube is 3/4 time.

sounds nothing like 3/4 to me. I think its 4/4. although you might have been using a 3/4 grid, which would be pointless. Try to make sure when sequencing in a time signiature like 3/4 not to go by the sound, youll just end up making 4/4. Make sure your phrase starts over at the beggining of each measure.

EDIT:

3/4:[ I...1...1...I...1...1...I...1...1...I...1...1...] (4 bars)

4/4:[i...1...1...1...I...1...1...1...I...1...1...1...] (3bars)

your question seems like it answers itself. Im not really sure where you are confused. Nice diagram! Now I understand what you were going for.

Well, its the fact that triplets are widely accepted in 4/4, rendering the 3/4 timesig useless. do you have a swing groove effect on that midi?

  blicero said:

you'll be able to tell which hits sound off and move/remove them.

or even better... don't. that's more jazz than anything. songs that have a repeating pattern that i can identify, but that take me ages to get the 'feel' for are a favourite.

if you guys want a serious time signature headfuk, go with all speed and download "like it feels" by henry threadgill. it's on the "makin' a move" album.

just after the rather nifty drum info, the track's head definitely repeats, but i still, after listening for months, haven't quite grasped it.

fun times.

c

its fun playing around with multiple time signatures similtaneously, i got amazing marks for an a level piano compositon where i composed a triple stave work with the melody in 7/8, the bassline melodies in 9/8,and the chordal mid accopaniment in 5/4

proper interesting mashup, you just gotta get the jist of where the signatures will align again.

  ieafs said:

well the question is:

 

how come 4 bars of what sounds like 4/4 fits into 4 bars of 3/4?

 

3/4 has 12 crotchets in 4 bars

 

and 4/4 has 16 crotchets in 4 bars

 

how how does 4 bars of what sounds like 4/4 (and i'm sure it is) work out as 4 bars of 3/4?

 

:dizzy:

are you sure that it's not 3 bars of what sounds like (and, actually, is) 4/4 work out as 4 bars of 3/4?

cause that's easy - both 4 (steps) x 3 (bars) = 12 and 3 (steps) x 4 (bars) = 12

7/4 is where it's fucking at

Erik Satie's Gymnopedie no 3 is in 3/4 time. It's very simple, beautiful, and it's various chords might interest a musical mind like the ones who hang around here. You've probably studied it already, right? Well, spend some time with this tune, and you might get some ideas? Sorry if this is totally the wrong thing. Good luck.

a good trick if your writing tonal music is to land on the tonic at the 1st beat of each bar for a bit, subconsiously brings the mind to no doubt where the bar is begginning and ending, including yourself

edit: even if it is dull.

You must dance really weird.

as tribe called quest put it, it goes - the boom, the dip, the boom dip.

make your sequence length 48 beats instead of 64 or 32 or 16. 48 is 6x8. this means you can fit bars of three beats, four beats, six beats and eight beats into one loop.

if this makes no sense - join a west african drum group and play jembi for a few months. all they want to play is swing beat (6/8).