3/4 to 4/4 smoothly
- Thread starter Vasrely Derian
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Jak Angelescu
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3/4 timing can essentially have the same feel as 6/8, but believe it or not, you can play a 6/8 feel with a 4/4 click. If you’re listening to a metronome, your “down beat” is going to be on a different count. The metronome lesson that Syn did will help loads with this I think. He talks about thinking of the metronome as a drummer and not a beat. It encourages different rhythmic feels.
There’s a song by Demons and Wizards called “Fiddler on the Green” and it goes from a very obvious 4/4 picking timing into a obvious 3/4. I never could make the transition with a metronome until I watched that lesson. If you watch my performance on it, you can hear I start my changes on the down beat and then to the up beat when the timing seems to change.
I hope this helped at all
There’s a song by Demons and Wizards called “Fiddler on the Green” and it goes from a very obvious 4/4 picking timing into a obvious 3/4. I never could make the transition with a metronome until I watched that lesson. If you watch my performance on it, you can hear I start my changes on the down beat and then to the up beat when the timing seems to change.
I hope this helped at all
3/4 and 4/4 actually feel the exact same, 3/4 just has one less beat. 6/8 is counted in triplets. To work on the feel, set a regular at a comfortable tempo with no accent on the down beat of the 1. Then just count just emphasize the 1 in each measure. So ONE 234, ONE 23, ONE 234, ONE 23. Counting any rhythm is pretty simple, any time signature can be counted in 1s,2s, and 3s. So even 7/8 you could count it as 1 2-12-123 or 1234-123 or 123-123-1. It’s all just a matter of where you accent the beats.
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I do like time signature theory!
(I noticed Christopher already mentioned this after I had written this all out) 3/4 and 4/4 have almost the same feel. 3/4 feels interrupted in a small way. If a piece had a 3/4 vibe throughout you would have a Waltz feel (which is a very natural feel like 4/4), but I think for the purpose of this explanation, this is not the case. You could suggest that 3/4 followed by 4/4 could be seen as 7/4, which would mean that you are seeing the whole phrase as 1 bar of 7/4 instead of 1 bar of 3/4 followed by 1 bar of 4/4. Sometimes this might help to play about with how you view a phrase, even if it goes against what you are reading. You say you would like to play 3/4 followed by 4/4 with out it sounding awkward…well…I kind of think that it is supposed to feel and sound awkward, because odd numbers are awkward.
On to a similiar subject;
Jak, the discussion of 3/4 being the same as 6/8 is very interesting because 3/4 would physically fit over 6/8. However, in theory they are two different time signatures. What you could end up with in theory is a type of Polytempo, where you have two time signatures working with or against each other.
Actually I’d love to go into a new thread at some point about time signatures specifically if people are interested!
(I noticed Christopher already mentioned this after I had written this all out) 3/4 and 4/4 have almost the same feel. 3/4 feels interrupted in a small way. If a piece had a 3/4 vibe throughout you would have a Waltz feel (which is a very natural feel like 4/4), but I think for the purpose of this explanation, this is not the case. You could suggest that 3/4 followed by 4/4 could be seen as 7/4, which would mean that you are seeing the whole phrase as 1 bar of 7/4 instead of 1 bar of 3/4 followed by 1 bar of 4/4. Sometimes this might help to play about with how you view a phrase, even if it goes against what you are reading. You say you would like to play 3/4 followed by 4/4 with out it sounding awkward…well…I kind of think that it is supposed to feel and sound awkward, because odd numbers are awkward.
On to a similiar subject;
Jak, the discussion of 3/4 being the same as 6/8 is very interesting because 3/4 would physically fit over 6/8. However, in theory they are two different time signatures. What you could end up with in theory is a type of Polytempo, where you have two time signatures working with or against each other.
Actually I’d love to go into a new thread at some point about time signatures specifically if people are interested!
There is a way in which you can bounce around between 3/4 and 4/4 without even having to change the time signature. The idea is to keep the 4/4 time signature over your song and whenever you have a section which would require a 3/4 time signature, you could use triplets to create a 3/4 feel to your song. 3 eighth note triplets equate to a quarter note duration in such a scenario. At least that’s how I’d to things, it all depends on your song though.
Also, if I may interject, what Ben is saying is correct, 3/4 and 6/8 are two different time sigantures.
If I remmeber my musical theory correctly, the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is the time unit which is used to measure a beat in each measure/bar. For 3/4, it is read as “three quarter notes”, which means that the main duration unit is the quarter note and it is counted as 1 2 3, 1 2 3 etc.
For 6/8, it is read as “six eighth notes”, which means that the main duration unit is the eighth note and you actually have to count it as 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc.
Though mathematically the bars using these time signatures last the exact same amount of time, the difference is in how you are supposed to count them. I remember my music teacher trying to convince me to use the correct counting method each and every time I had to play a 6/8 piece on a piano.
On a side note, I know a lot of music theory. I played piano for like 10 years when I was little then started playing the guitar and have since delved into a lot of music theory in order to understand how music works. If people find it useful, I can make topics tackling certain subjects when I have time.
Also, if I may interject, what Ben is saying is correct, 3/4 and 6/8 are two different time sigantures.
If I remmeber my musical theory correctly, the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is the time unit which is used to measure a beat in each measure/bar. For 3/4, it is read as “three quarter notes”, which means that the main duration unit is the quarter note and it is counted as 1 2 3, 1 2 3 etc.
For 6/8, it is read as “six eighth notes”, which means that the main duration unit is the eighth note and you actually have to count it as 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc.
Though mathematically the bars using these time signatures last the exact same amount of time, the difference is in how you are supposed to count them. I remember my music teacher trying to convince me to use the correct counting method each and every time I had to play a 6/8 piece on a piano.
On a side note, I know a lot of music theory. I played piano for like 10 years when I was little then started playing the guitar and have since delved into a lot of music theory in order to understand how music works. If people find it useful, I can make topics tackling certain subjects when I have time.
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