Time Signatures - General Overview

Description

4/4? 7/8? 15/16? 5/4? 3/4? 6/8? 19/16? 5/4?

Ever wonder what those fraction looking things are at the beginning of every piece of music? And what do those numbers mean anyway? What are they for?

That fraction is called a time signature. All music is rhythmically structered around time signatures. Without time signatures, there would be no way to organize notes.

"Organize what notes?" you might ask. Basically, all rhythmic notes in music, such as the following:

Quarter notes (1 note per beat)

8th notes (2 notes per beat)

Triplets (3 notes per beat)

16th notes (4 notes per beat)

At the beginning of every piece of music, a time signature is set to determine the length of every following measure. "Length" meaning how many beats are in a measure and what kind of beats.

Study the chart below. In order to fully understand time signatures, you must know what the top and bottom numbers are for.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how time signatures work, you should try to make this knowledge practical by writing your own riffs in different time signatures. Things always make a little more sense after you are able to apply theory concepts to actual music.

For further study on specific time signatures and applicable riffs, see this in-depth Time Signature Tutorial.