9 Popular Songs With Odd Time Signatures

[Music] the first time you heard that classic bass riff did you notice something did you feel that the groove was uneven what is it about that riff about that timing that makes it irregular but still steady let's find out by taking a dive into some of the most popular songs that have odd time signatures and learn a little bit more about how to use them first of all let's define what a common time signature is in western music 4/4 time is considered common time the reasons for this are for another conversation but probably have something to do with the familiarity of our binary movements two arms two legs etc it's also important and interesting to note here that the idea of common time is a Western notion other cultures perform in Auto meters down regulate big toe mean no gotta give it up better to them dog big thumbs up beyond common time 3/4 time has been explored in waltzes for centuries and similarly 6/8 time in some styles is just as common as 4/4 so what about 5 7 9 10 11 now these are odd meters that are regularly explored by prog rock bands and metal bands but in this video I wanted to show some popular songs that you might not associate with odd meters that have odd meters ready here we go 1 2 3 4 5 [Music] the first tune we're gonna take a look at is take five composed by Paul Desmond and originally recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1959 this jazz standard gave odd meters a lively spot on the staff and given its title we're also given its time signature now an easy way to latch on to counting this is identifying those two single notes as four and five right on those B's [Music] take five is a great example of an odd meter feeling very natural grooving and constant another example of this and in the same meter is the original theme to Mission Impossible this theme composed by Lalo Schifrin presents itself in a very straightforward way the rhythm is easily accessible to our ears however in step with the undercover designs of the IMF there is something odd hiding in plain sight it's a fifth beat in the measure similar to take five there's an easy way to count this that fourth and fifth beat are those notes that are right on the beat one two three four five one two three four five one two three five [Music] in 1966 Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach recorded the Bacharach penned I say a little prayer and by the end of 67 it was number four on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart this song is also a great example of the importance of subdividing the way we count measures [Music] [Music] the chorus of I say a little prayer is an 11-4 time seems pretty out there but we can more easily grasp that eleven by subdividing combination of four at three and four didn't do data to Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada did it da da da [Applause] better a couple years later southern rock legends the Allman Brothers delivered the fierce bass riff in whipping post and it's an eleven eight time [Music] [Applause] so we subdivide this as three groupings of three and then one grouping of two in 1967 the Beatles gave the world a performance that manager Brian Epstein called their finest moment [Music] [Applause] [Music] I love the one two three four five six seven one two five six seven [Music] love-love-love one word said three times over seven beats there is another very popular song in seven four time as well [Music] [Applause] [Applause] climbing up on South Street [Music] [Music] [Music] Radiohead is a band that has challenged us as listeners in so many ways they have bent the rules harmonically they've skewed the way we approach production and they've uncovered new territories of space rhythmically the intro to everything in its right place is a haunting pulse and in my opinion one of the most compelling most summoning compositions in modern music and it's in a meter of 10 beats staying in the modern era for our last example hey-yah from Outkast is undoubtedly tons of fun and will get you moving and shaking from the first downbeat now you're probably thinking there's no way that hey-yah is in an odd time signature and it's not really however there is a very clever bar to for tucked into the groove which also accentuates a deceptive cadence in the harmonic structure stay with me here because this is really really cool and I'd give Andre 3000 3000 points for this [Music] but they stand to see me Oh so the groove is in 4/4 easy danceable the key is in G major and the progression is one bar of G two bars of C a 2/4 bar of D and then 2 bars of D like this [Music] so that progression from D to e in the key of G major is what we call deceptive cadence because that D the five chord is not expected to resolve to a chord that's outside of the key so check this out that clever little bar of two four of D provides even if only subconsciously an unexpected pull - an unexpected chord all the while remaining and even groove so that we can clap along to what we feel to beat - and for [Music] exploring odd time signatures is challenging it's engaging it's a whole lot of fun composing with these odd meters opens up this whole new level of focus and discipline in the way we perform and the way we execute rhythms learning how to execute the rhythms in these songs that we love is a great place to start if there's any other odd meters and songs that you love that we forgot about let us know in the comments hope to see you next time and thanks for watching [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Reverb

Views: 218,234

Rating: 4.9471822 out of 5

Keywords: reverb, reverb.com, reverbdotcom, pink floyd, pink floyd money, time signatures, bass riff, time signature, dave brubeck, dave brubeck take five, mission impossible theme, dionne warwick, allman brothers, allman brothers whipping post, outkast, hey ya, paul mccartney, all you need is love, i say a little prayer, peter gabriel, solsbury hill, radiohead, everything in its right place

Id: -RU4ku-OSdo

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Fri May 22 2020