help with tempo + timing

Hi All
Sorry if this question seems lame but I am at a loss in understanding the relationship between beats and tempo. If the music is 4/4 thats 4 beats to a measure yes? IE 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a.
ok this is where i come unstuck, if the tempo is 120 bpm does that make the beats per measure faster? Or do I simply play the notes faster, and if so how do I count?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is doing my head in lol.
Im new on this site so if there is a lesson on this a point in the right direction would help too.
Thanks very much in advance
Mike

4/4 Is four counts of the quarter note receiving 1 count. So 4/4 is four quarternotes to a measure. The beat is the strong pulses of the music, and in 4/4 those are usually on 1 and 3 (when the kick drum is typically played), but this usually confuses people because the metronome calls it "Beats per minute" which is not how we typically use it. The TEMPO is the rate at which you count, or the PULSE. If you wanted to be technically correct it would be 120 PULSES per minute. So that would be 120 counts per minute, or 30 groups of 4/4 (meaures) per minute.

So if you set your metronome to 120, every click would be a number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4...

The "eighth" notes would be counted in between the clicks

1 and 2 and 3 and 4

www.jamesericksonmusic.com

Originally Posted by: Mike_x1xIf the music is 4/4 thats 4 beats to a measure yes?

Yes, if the time signature is 4/4, there are 4 beats in every measure. 120 BPM stands for "120 Beats Per Minute", which means you will simply be playing 120 beats in one minute, or 120/4 measures in one minute = 30 measures.

If the tempo was 100 BPM, you would be playing 100 beats in one minute, meaning there's more space between each beat. You would be playing slower than 120 BPM. Each measure would last longer.

If the time signature is 3/4, there are 3 beats in each measure. If the tempo was 120 BPM, we would still play 120 beats in one minute, meaning the space between each beat is the same.

However, we would be playing more measures, since we only have 3 beats in each one here (120/3 = 40 measures).

/Ben

Hey, Mike! James & Ben have given you excellent technical answers.

Originally Posted by: Mike_x1x
Sorry if this question seems lame but I am at a loss in understanding the relationship between beats and tempo.

Beats are evenly spaced pulses of time passing in music. In 4/4, that is indeed 4 beats per measures, regardless of the tempo.

Tempo is how fast those pulses occur. 120 BPM is faster than 100 BPM, regardless of the time signature.

Guitar Fundamentals 2 Chapter 4 is all about reading music; including time signatures and tempo.

http://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=2

Feel free to simply go through that chapter, or you might want to start at the very beginning in order to get a thorough grounding in the basics from the ground up.

http://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=1

Either way, please ask more if necessary, let us know how it goes & have fun with GT & your guitar. :)

Hi Guys
Just wanted to say a big thank you for replying.
I will look at those lessons
Once again thank you
Mike

@CSchlegel
Learning to read music is a great tutorial. I had learned to read music in band class about 24 years ago but haven't used it since. Those tutorials brought it all back to me. Now I just have to get my fingers to "know" where the notes are on the guitar.

Great site.

Originally Posted by: shane77m@CSchlegel
Learning to read music is a great tutorial.

Thanks for the compliment. Glad you are getting value from GT & my lessons. :)