Understanding Time Signatures
Read Time: 5 Minutes
What Are Time Signatures in Music?
A time signature tells us the structure of the beat or the pulse of a piece of music. They tell us how many beats are in a bar, and how those beats might be grouped together into “strong” and “weak”, and they also provide some context for how we can expect the written notation to look.
How to Read Time Signatures
A time signature has two parts:
- The top number, which tells us how many beats are in a bar
- The bottom number, which tells us the note value of each beat
There are two types of time signature: simple and compound.
Simple: A simple time signature will usually have either a 2, 3 or 4 as the top number. It will also usually have a 4 as the bottom number, which tells us that each beat is equal to a one-quarter note (one crotchet). For example, the 4/4 time signature will have 4 beats worth one-quarter note in every bar.
Compound: A compound time signature will usually have the number, 6, 9 or 12 as the top number, and an 8 as the bottom number. This tells us two things: each beat is equal to one-eighth note (one quaver), and they are structured in groups of three.
For example, the 6/8 time signature has 6 beats, each beat is equal to one eighth note, and they are split into two groups of three.
Common Types of Time Signatures
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2/4 Time Signature
This is like a marching time signature, “1, 2, 1, 2” or “left, right, left, right”.
There are two crotchet beats in a bar, and they are both strong (though the first is slightly stronger than the second).
Because there are two beats, it is called “duple time” or “duple meter”, so it would be “simple duple time”.
As an example, here’s a playlist of classical marching tunes:
3/4 Time Signature
Also known as the waltz time signature, this one has 3 quarter note beats. The first beat is the strongest, while the next one is slightly weaker and the third is even weaker. “Oom pah pah, oom pah pah”.
As there are 3 beats, it is called “triple” time.
This time signature fell out of fashion in popular music and is now mainly associated with classical music.
It was more popular around the 60s-80s – here’s Elvis for an example:
4/4 Time Signature
This is also sometimes called “common time” in the classical world, and it’s the most commonly used time signature.
The first beat is the strongest, with the 3rd slightly less strong.
4 beats means this is “quadruple time”.
You don’t need to go far to find examples of this, but here’s a classic from Scott Joplin:
6/8 Time Signature
This time signature has two groups of three eighth-note beats. The first note is the strongest, and the fourth is also quite strong, while the rest are weak. “1-and-a 2-and-a”.
It is often confused with the 3/4 time signature, but the 6/8 time signature is actually “duple” time – it has two strong beats, just like 2/4!
Here’s an example from everyone’s favorite rockstars – Queen:
12/8 Time Signature
Following what we’ve learned from 6/8, this time signature has four groups of three eighth notes. “1-and-a 2-and-a 3-and-a 4-and-a”.
It’s quadruple time, and quite similar to 4/4!
A much-loved example of this is Tears for Fears’ 1985 hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”:
Irregular Time Signatures
What happens if we have an odd number on the top of our time signature?
These time signatures are called “irregular”. They most commonly appear in jazz and classical, but you’ll see them in other genres too. Examples might include:
- 5/8
- 5/4
- 7/8
- 7/4
These types of time signatures generally split their beats into groups of two and three.
For instance, a song in 5/8 might go something like “1-and-a 2-and, 1-and-a 2-and”, where the first and fourth beats are the strong ones.
The jazz hit “Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet is a very famous example of this pattern:
While there are two strong beats in 5/4 and 5/8, they aren’t considered “duple time” because the strong beats aren’t equal in length. Instead, it is called “quintuple time”, and time signatures with 7 beats are called “septuple time”.
How To Change Time Signature
Time signatures can change at any point in a composition. It’s quite common to add single bars of 2/4 in 4/4 to create interesting variations in phrase length.
In order to change the time signature, we just put the new one at the start of the bar. Easy!
We can also switch between regular and irregular time signatures. Check out this example from Snarky Puppy – at 1:51 it switches from 4/4 to 7/8 in a pattern of 2+2+3.
In Summary
To wrap up, here are the main points to remember about time signatures:
- They tell us the structure of the pulse of our music.
- The top number tells us how many beats are in a bar.
- The bottom number tells us whether those are a quarter note (4) or eighth note (8) in length.
- Simple time signatures have a top number of 2, 3 or 4.
- Compound time signatures have a top number of 6, 9 or 12, and their beats are grouped together in threes.
- Irregular time signatures have an odd number on top.
