metronomes and timing on songs

heyjoe
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:19 pm

Hi Guys

Thanks very much for your help on this. I now know that my original post wasn't all that clear- I think thats because when it comes to theory I'm a complete newbie.

However, after reading your posts and piecing things together I think I may have the answer I'm looking for.

So, going back to here comes the sun, its in 4/4 time, so 4 beats per bar.

This is where I think I had my eureka moment, the lines below the tab...never took any notice of them before ( yeah I know! large serving of D'oh! as Homer J Simpson would say)

So, if I'm right, the first note played on the open string is a quarter note, and all the rest in measure 1 are eighth notes, yes? IF thats right then all the notes added together would equal one, which I'm thinking is the point.

So, the eight notes last half the time of the quarter notes?

Also, that would come across as 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 for this measure.

Should I wish to us a metronome to get the timing right ( and I do), all I do is set my metronome to hit eighth notes, let the first note ring for 2 beats of the metronome, and then play the next 6 on the following 6 beats.

The speed at which I play it is irrelevant (it's very very slow at the moment, which is fine by me)for the note lenght calculations, as long as the notes are played in this timing, then as I get more proficient at it, I can play it closer to correct speed.

I hope that the above stuff is correct, if not, please feel free to correct me.

This theory is complicated stuff, but I'm enjoying it.

Thanks

Joe


reiver
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:42 pm

heyjoe wrote:

So, if I'm right, the first note played on the open string is a quarter note, and all the rest in measure 1 are eighth notes, yes? IF thats right then all the notes added together would equal one, which I'm thinking is the point.

So, the eight notes last half the time of the quarter notes?

Also, that would come across as 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 for this measure.
Joe

I reckon that you've just about got it, but it would be 1 2 & 3 & 4 &, I think. Your explanation is correct, though

Hope I'm not being pedantic (or wrong)

r


heyjoe
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:47 pm

reiver wrote:
I reckon that you've just about got it, but it would be 1 2 & 3 & 4 &, I think. Your explanation is correct, though

Hope I'm not being pedantic (or wrong)
That would make a lot more sense,thanks.

I've just fired up the metronome (online), set it to 8 beats per measure, sounds erm, interesting! Just means more to learn, and it's also made me realise how hideous my timing has been:ohmy:

Thanks

Joe


reiver
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:50 pm

heyjoe wrote:
reiver wrote:
I reckon that you've just about got it, but it would be 1 2 & 3 & 4 &, I think. Your explanation is correct, though

Hope I'm not being pedantic (or wrong)
That would make a lot more sense,thanks.

I've just fired up the metronome (online), set it to 8 beats per measure, sounds erm, interesting! Just means more to learn, and it's also made me realise how hideous my timing has been:ohmy:

Thanks

Joe
Good luck with it ;)

r


heyjoe
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:00 pm

Reiver

I'm the sort of person that needs to know why something works before I start working on how to do it!

Now my brain understands the principle, its time to transfer it to the fingers.

Thanks


rcsnydley
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:40 pm

helloworld wrote:
No, a digital metronome of decent quality set to 4/4 will click 8 times per measure, once per 1/8 beat. It clicks four times per measure when set to 0/4.
Is there anyone else out there who can chime in on this one. I have never seen a metronome that counts 8 beats on a standard 4/4 time signature. Does your metronome have a setting for 1/4 notes and 1/8 notes?

Ric


reiver
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:05 pm

rcsnydley wrote:
helloworld wrote:
No, a digital metronome of decent quality set to 4/4 will click 8 times per measure, once per 1/8 beat. It clicks four times per measure when set to 0/4.
Is there anyone else out there who can chime in on this one. I have never seen a metronome that counts 8 beats on a standard 4/4 time signature. Does your metronome have a setting for 1/4 notes and 1/8 notes?

Ric
My take on this: Sure, you can make any metronome do 8 beats in a 4/4 time measure. A metronome is just a device that'll click x number of times per minute: how you match that up to quarter notes, or 8th notes, or 16ths, whatever, is up to you. When you set a new, electronic metronome to '60', then it clicks once per second. Commonly, when playing 4/4 time, people will play quarter notes to each click -- but, if you wanted to play reeeaally slowly, you could play 8ths to that just as easily. Or, if you wanted you could set it to 120 bpm, and play 8ths for each click and be at the same pace of quarter notes on 60 bpm.

As Bear mentioned, some of the new ones will accent every 4th click (or every 8th, or whatever). Assuming you want the accent at the start of each measure, this now begins to assign clicks to a particular length note. But even that is up to you: you could just as easily decide that each accented click comes on beat 1 and 3, not beat 1, and play 8ths per click instead of quarters.

My 2-cents.

Regarding time signatures (just because I haven't seen this spelled out fully just yet): the upper number tells you how many beats per measure, the bottom number what kind of beats they are. 4/4 means 4 beats a quarter note each. 6/8 time means 6 beats per measure of 8th notes.


reiver
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:36 pm

fjvdb wrote:
rcsnydley wrote:
helloworld wrote:
No, a digital metronome of decent quality set to 4/4 will click 8 times per measure, once per 1/8 beat. It clicks four times per measure when set to 0/4.
Is there anyone else out there who can chime in on this one. I have never seen a metronome that counts 8 beats on a standard 4/4 time signature. Does your metronome have a setting for 1/4 notes and 1/8 notes?

Ric
My 2-cents.

Regarding time signatures (just because I haven't seen this spelled out fully just yet): the upper number tells you how many beats per measure, the bottom number what kind of beats they are. 4/4 means 4 beats a quarter note each. 6/8 time means 6 beats per measure of 8th notes.
thanks for that. but can you help me with the difference between 3/4 time played quickly and 6/8 time played slowly. How could you tell which was which just by listening?

r


BigBear
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Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:41 pm

rcsnydley wrote:
helloworld wrote:
No, a digital metronome of decent quality set to 4/4 will click 8 times per measure, once per 1/8 beat. It clicks four times per measure when set to 0/4.
Is there anyone else out there who can chime in on this one. I have never seen a metronome that counts 8 beats on a standard 4/4 time signature. Does your metronome have a setting for 1/4 notes and 1/8 notes?

Ric

I have a really good Boss digital metronome and in "normal" mode it plays 4 beats in 4/4 time. But I can set it to play in 1/8 or even 1/16th notes. And you can set the volume to accent whatever beat you want to hear.

Like I said, I think playing 1/8 notes gets too busy to play along with.

Cheers! :cheer:


jayswett
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Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:39 am

Very basic question:
What is the difference between a measure and a bar?


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