On July 19th of last year at about 11:30PM, an idea was born. That idea was to build a place, this website, which would present excellent writing across a wide range of topics. A place that would not feature sensationalism, but that would always strive to be sensational. A place that would endeavor to provide help to people who need it through a practical philanthropic effort.
Within a week of that idea, our team was built, and we have been working hard ever since to turn that idea into something real. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with this vibrant and dedicated team. Six months later, this is the fruit of their labor. It’s February 1, 2010 and our doors are finally open.
This piece is not meant to be a theory lesson in meter and time signatures. Rather, it is meant to help you open up some new doors and hopefully get your creative juices flowing!
Most of us have grown up listening to music characterized by the familiar time signatures of 4/4 or 3/4. 4/4 is the most common time signature in rock, blues, country, funk, and pop while 3/4 is often used for country & western ballads, not to mention waltzes, minuets & scherzi!
Both of these time signatures are considered ‘simple time signatures’. But what about ‘complex time signatures’?
When I was very young, I listened to a lot of pop, rock and folk. Almost all of it was written in 4/4 time. When I turned 14, I was introduced to the progressive rock bands King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and Gentle Giant. One of the first things I noticed was that I could not easily tap my foot to some of the tunes. When I tried to count them out, I realized that many of these songs were written in complex time signatures and some even used mixed meters, moving from 9/8 to 4/4 to 13/8 etc.
As my internal clock became familiarized with these new meters, I eventually became very comfortable with them and as I began to write songs, I found that I often gravitated towards 7/8.
To me, 7/8 is a wonderful time signature in that it is not necessarily locked to a solid down beat. As I tend to focus more on melodic phrasing than meter, I found that 7/8 was a wonderful pallet on which to compose and improvise because it allows me to play extend melodic phrases.
The following piece called Cogitation is a raw sketch for a song I have yet to finish. I hope you will enjoy it. I offer it as an example of the musical possibilities offered by 7/8 (Don’t mind the cheesy drums and very average mix..remember it’s a raw sketch!)
One other thing I will mention about 7/8 is that its possibilities are greatly expanded by where you place the accents. Cogitation is counted with the accents emphasized as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 67
However, I also have written pieces with the following accents. (Try taping them out emphasizing the bolded number)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
and
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
If you want a wonderful example of 7/8, have a listen to the long synth solo in the song The Cinema Show by Genesis from the album Selling England By The Pound. Here is a live version of that solo from YouTube though personally, I prefer the studio version.
Victor Wooten is arguably one of the most skilled bass players on the planet. His musical virtuosity and remarkable technique has amazed and inspired countless musicians. Three-time winner of Bass Player magazine’s ‘Bass Player of the Year’ award, Victor Wooten was the first person to win the award more than once. I first became aware of Victor Wooten through his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He has been their bass player since the band formed in 1988.
The following 5-minute bass solo is from a live performance with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. The first 1½ minutes are a wonderful example of his technical abilities. Amazing Grace starts at about 1:38 of this clip and is incredibly rich, original and so very melodic!
Enjoy, and, the next time you think you have explored everything you and your instrument are capable of, come back and watch this again.
If you are a guitar player and you are not familiar with Pat Metheny, then you are missing out on a truly remarkable player and uniquely gifted musician. Always melodic, always interesting, I hear new things every time I listen to him play. It is my opinion that a century from now, history will look back on his music in the same way we look back at Chopin and his body of work.
This short piece is simply exquisite. If there were such a thing as a dictionary that used music to define words, I would use this piece to explain the word, pretty!
I wrote this song in 1996 as a personal tribute to a guitar player who over the years has had an influence on me. That guitar player of course is Carlos Santana.
I hope he gets to hear it one day! The song is track 2 on my CD, Old Dog New Tricks which I released in 2007.
Thank you Carlos for all you’ve done to inspire so many of us, both musically and personally.
On July 19th of last year at about 11:30PM, an idea was born. That idea was to build a place, this website, which would present excellent writing across a wide range of topics. A place that would not feature sensationalism, but that would always strive to be sensational. A place that would endeavor to provide help to people who need it through a practical philanthropic effort.
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