Time Signatures

[Drew77]

Alright.

In light of the recent lessons devoted to time signatures I'd like t ask a question. Whats the difference? I know what the difference is in terms of counting measures and all that time stuff, but I am talking sound wise, how are they different. For example I have heard guitarist say, alright play this lick in 4/4, alright now play it in 7/8... what does that mean, if your playing the same lick doesn't that mean its going to be the same no matter what time sig. it is in? I mean, you would count it differently and it may fit into a different number of measures or whatever, but it will sound the same won't it?

Please someone help me out with this. I know that different types of music use certain time signatures because they do sound different if your are writing in them but particularly with the example above I don't understand or know what the difference would be. Maybe it is just as simple as accenting different notes as in, for 4/4 you accent the 1 beat, and in a 7/8 the 1 beat would be in a different place, but that doesn't seem right because you don't always want to accent the 1 beat... I don't know someone help me out.

[CSchlegel]

For example I have heard guitarist say, alright play this lick in 4/4, alright now play it in 7/8... what does that mean, if your playing the same lick doesn't that mean its going to be the same no matter what time sig. it is in? I mean, you would count it differently and it may fit into a different number of measures or whatever, but it will sound the same won't it?
Yes, you can count any piece of music in any time signature you desire. So you can play "Mary had a little lamb" and count in 7 if you want. The song will of course (as you point out) sound the same.

The reason to use any specific, given time signature is to create conceptual & perceptual clarity. So you should only use 7/8 if the melody you are playing is actually in 7/8. "Mary had a little lamb" is actually in 4 so you should write it out and count it in 4 so that it makes sense.

It is possible to rearrange "Mary had a little lamb" so that you can play it in 7/8. But it would obviously sound slightly disjointed and the point is that it would not be the actual tune but a slight rhythmic rearrangement.
Maybe it is just as simple as accenting different notes as in, for 4/4 you accent the 1 beat, and in a 7/8 the 1 beat would be in a different place, but that doesn't seem right because you don't always want to accent the 1 beat... I don't know someone help me out.
No, the accent is a completely different issue. You can accent any given beat you want in any time signature. You are right in thinking that "doesn't seem right"! :)

The time signature simply tells you the fundmental rhythmic background of a piece. See my tutorial here: Learning to read music tutorial (http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=271)

And the specific lesson on time signatures in that tutorial is here: Time Signature lesson (http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=10276&s_id=271)

Hope this helps. Let me know!