Rock Songs with Non Standard Time Signatures

[Dad3353]

9 hours ago, MNY said:

...Please let me know what you think the time sig is...

For the most part, I take this to be a fast 6/8, not too far removed from a java dance rhythm popular in French 'musette' bands. Counted (rapidly...) as 1 2 3 2 2 3 .

[MNY]

You may well be right. I count the verse as 4/4 and the chorus as a very fast 6, seems to work. 
 

Cheers,

Mark.

[Dad3353]

There's a chorus..? 

...

[MNY]

I don’t know if you would call it that, it’s the section that follows the opening which I  count in 6. The opening salvo which I class as the verse I seem to be able to count in 4 if that makes sense. 

[merello]

Have no5 been thru full thread but a lot of Sting songs?

St Augustine in Hell

7 days

Love Is Stronger than Justice

 

[merello]

Wtf!

Sting “I hung my head!”

 

[Nail Soup]

How about Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica Album?

For example the opening track "Frownland" contains 7/4, 5/4,12/8 and 8/4 - usually two of them at once. That's according to the guy in the second video.....I could never work that out for myself 😕😕.

 

Here is a 30 minute analysis of the song. Actually the first 15 mins talks about the album in general, recording process and lyrics. The last 15 mins go into the musical structure of the song. In minute detail. Way beyond my level but fascinating to watch!

 

 

 

[fleabag]

Rush - Tom Sawyer

King Crimson – Frame By Frame

Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill

Crosby Stills and Nash - Guinnevere

Wishbone Ash - Pilgrim

 

[MNY]

@Dad3353, you were definitely closer than me.  It’s in 3/4. I managed to find a link to the score if you’re interested. My reading is pretty rubbish but it might help me work through the bass part which is tricky to say the least. 
 

https://www.nguyen-le.com/Site_Nu/Scores_files/Yhadik.pdf

[Dad3353]

[paul_c2]

 

[NancyJohnson]

A bit of a thread resurrection here.

I'd forgotten how wonderfully discordant and frankly incoherent some of the material by The Diagram Brothers was.  Andy Diagram went on to be a member of James and The Pale Fountains.  The first Diagram Brother album os widely available on Spotify et al.  I've just ordered the Peel Sessions on CD.

 

[NancyJohnson]

Oh, who could forget Stump.  Kev (@spoombung) is still a member on here:

 

[acidbass]

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun, the bridge/guitar solo section is in 9/8 and quite tricky to nail

[mike257]

On 10/07/2020 at 20:47, bobbass4k said:

It's always nice to see some StT love - how they weren't huge I'll never understand - x-french tee shirt is a masterpiece (anthemic sing along ending over a single chord? Mad genius).

I could list songs and bands all day long that you've most likely never heard of, but based on your original ideas I think you're looking for things more ensconced in the bosom of popularity.

Building on Mountains - a lot of the newer Biffy stuff still uses odd time sigs - Different people (main riff is a 15/8 feel), Spanish Radio (5/4), Bubbles (ends in 7/4) and a lot of the older stuff (Glitter and Trauma, now the action, jaggy snake etc...)

Deftones sneak a few in every now and then - Poltergeist (Very fun 7/4 bass riff), DIamond eyes (11/8 feel chorus), Leathers (11/4 feel verses)

Radiohead of course -  2 + 2 =5 (in 7/8 not 5, oddly), 15 step (again 5/4, not 15...)

Obligatory plug for my favourite band Oceansize, especially tempting bait to a drummer - maybe a bit on the proggy side for some people but very musical and melodic -

 

Only came here to excitably yell "Oceansize!!!”

Huge amounts of Biffy Clyro stuff is in things that aren't 4/4, and they're very good at squeezing it in but making it sound perfectly natural. This shifts effortlessly from 3 to 5 and back again...

And this goes to a whole bunch of different places musically and dynamically in less than five minutes....

 

[Richard R]

Missed this the first time round, surprised Sting didn't get mentioned earlier.

Here's an utterly marvelous rendition of Solsbury Hil by the man who played the original guitar line.

Anyone who is counting beats should just stop and listen  instead 😁

[Stub Mandrel]

Black Sabbath:

Damaged Soul starts off in 12/8 goes to 4/4

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Apocalypse in 9/8.

[Stub Mandrel]

Six Ate - Camel.

[DaytonaRik]

A lot of clever stuff here - but after 4 pages NO ONE has yet commented that I Love rock and Roll by The Arrows and, of course, covered by Joan Jett has a 3/4 bar at the end of each chorus section!

[PatrickJ]

Loads of great suggestions - thanks guys.

We settled on a couple of Steve Wilson and Porcupine Tree songs to have a play with which I guessed strayed into prog somewhat but not too far.

Though the drummer and I are in dispute about what time signature Trains is actually in (for the main riff the Acoustic guitars play) - any thoughts?

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by PJ-Bassist

[toneknob]

Did anyone mention that SW's "No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun" has a jaunty 21/8 time sig? Have some Marco. And everyone else in the best line-up of this band... (edit: oh wait soz, no Guthrie)

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by toneknob

[bobbass4k]

11 hours ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Loads of great suggestions - thanks guys.

We settled on a couple of Steve Wilson and Porcupine Tree songs to have a play with which I guessed strayed into prog somewhat but not too far.

Though the drummer and I are in dispute about what time signature Trains is actually in (for the main riff the Acoustic guitars play) - any thoughts?

 

I'd probably just treat it all as 4/4 (except for the banjo bit obviously - 6/8). They're shifting the feel around about a bit, extending it by a couple of beats here and there, technically it's probably a mix of 4 and 2, it's generally easier to just treat those as straight 4.

Edited July 21, 2020 by bobbass4k

[Dad3353]

4 hours ago, PJ-Bassist said:

... time signature Trains is actually in (for the main riff the Acoustic guitars play) - any thoughts?...

The simple way to count out the acoustic main riff is to think '12312312'. It's easy enough to play a 4/4 beat to that, or a 'break-beat' waltz 3/4, depending on the result wanted. If I had to write it out as score, I'd write two bars of 3/4 and one bar of 2/4. 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Dad3353

[Graham]

5 hours ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Loads of great suggestions - thanks guys.

We settled on a couple of Steve Wilson and Porcupine Tree songs to have a play with which I guessed strayed into prog somewhat but not too far.

Though the drummer and I are in dispute about what time signature Trains is actually in (for the main riff the Acoustic guitars play) - any thoughts?

 

Trains is one of my favourite songs 😀