Time Signature Changes

I hosted a live stream with Tom Hess from tomhess.net and Diana de Cabarrus from songwritinglessonsonline.com; the question came up about playing in different time signatures. It's an excellent topic that many people need clarification on. The answers are comprehensive and a wonderful way to start if you need to learn how. 

I first discussed the importance of changing time signatures in songs. I said I knew it was a very effective way to create emotion. For example, all you have to do is listen to The Beatles. Time signature changes happen all the time and almost everywhere in their songs. Another big one in rock is "Money" by Pink Floyd. This song goes through some key signature changes right in the middle.  

Diana Chimed in by saying that when you go from a time signature that is not symmetrical, like 7/8, into 4/4, you will feel like you're going from something that's a bit constrained, compressed, and uneven to something that is now even. And so, inherently, that change will give you a feeling of tension moving to release. This topic is excellent for training ourselves to move freely between time signatures.

She believes that a familiarity trap can inhibit songwriters. If you are used to playing in  4/4 or maybe a bit of  3/4 all the time,  you're going to always tend to create melodies and chord progressions in those time signatures. It is less likely that you will be able to execute something else. You're likely only going to come up  with  ideas  that  you  can  already  play.

An uneven  time  signature  to  even  time  signature  will  always  give  you  that  tension  to  release  vibe.  As  songwriters,  one  of  the challenges  may  be  that  we  are  only  writing  with  our  instrument and working  within  the  confines  of  what  we  can  already  do  technically.

Next on the agenda, I asked Diana about something else she wanted to talk about. She had spoken to me about a good example of accenting or contrasting  time  signatures.

She said that she didn't think that  it necessarily changed  time  signatures,  but  has a  6 over 4 feeling.  It is  the  Ella  Fitzgerald  version  of the song "Caravan."  It has a one, two,  three,  four,  five,  six  feeling, that Diana demonstrated on the guitar and then sang over that, "Night and stars  above  that  shine  so  bright."  The words while singing did not hit the beat notes, but instead the word "Night" is drawn out as is the word "bright," which sets up the tension. Then  it  goes  into  the  chorus,  "that  shines  upon our caravan."  These words hit the notes rather than having a drawn out timing to the notes as in the first part. The song goes  into  a  much  more  regular  swing  feel.  It implies  the  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six.  The song timing  doesn't  speed  up  or  slow  down, you  just  change  where  the  accents  are.  This  feels pretty  tense  especially  because  she is  kind  of  still  singing in  4 /4. As a result, there's  a  bit of a fight between the  phrasing  of  the  vocal and the accompanying musical accents there.  Then  when  you  get into  the little  refrain  bit  at  the  end  and  the  chorus, or what  you'd  call  the  chorus,  both music and voice move to a standard 4/4 swing rhythm. 

I noted to Diana that when she is  playing, she is also singing and understands how  all  of  this  works. She also mentioned  briefly  how  contrasting  the  rhythm  of  the  music  is  contrasting with the  time  signature  of  the  vocals. I said that the two, music and vocals, are  laying  on  top  of  each other and as a result, creates that sense of tension and release.

If you check out that  Ella  Fitzgerald  version of  "Caravan," you can hear that there is a load of rhythmic tension. It builds up where the notes  are long  , and  then  there's  this real  feeling  of  things  moving  forward when  it  gets into  the  refrain  and  into  the chorus. It is  just  a great  example of  some  of  the  things  we've been  talking  about.  Ella has  these  long notes  that  are contrasting  with  the shorter  notes  and they're  kind  of placed in a syncopated way.  So  this  is a  really satisfying kind of rhythmic tension.

Remember to always have fun with your guitar and I’ll see you next time…

About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.