From a songwriting perspective, changing a time signature in a song can be a very powerful tool -- and not just for weird avant-garde compositions :-). The Elvis Presley song "Suspicious Minds" is in common 4/4, but the bridge switches to 6/8 - it corresponds to a shift in the lyrics and the mood, becoming more plaintive and emotional ("Oh let our love survive, I'll dry the tears from your eyes. Let's don't let a good thing die, when honey, you know I've never lied to you.") -- before going back into 4/4 with a vengeance to finish the song. And a song that I wrote maybe 13 or 14 years ago for/about my daughters is a ballad in 4/4, and the choruses reference how I could put them to bed at night when they were little, and make everything all right, so I wrote a coda at the end that shifts to a 3/4 lullaby, but with the same chord progression. So changing the time signature can be a good thing when it works for the song.
I love how you close your eyes to count on the difficult time signatures! Thank you for all of your instruction, inspiration and your self depreciation that really is endearing to us mere mortals. You’re awesome 😎
This is a great lesson, simplest and best on RUclips that I have seen regarding time break down and chord switching. Great examples and breakdown thank you for sharing...
Thank you for an extremely important lesson Brother.No timing,NO music.The same with ballroom dancing.Nothing more frustrating to attempt a waltz with a partner that is out of sync in timing.
This is the best video I've seen in a long time and I will use these methods a lot from now on. I've always found it hard if not impossible to count out odd times without breaking them up. One song I like to practice counting to is Genesis "Apocalypse in 9/8", I count it out in my head as 123451234.
Nice one Mr Stitch I found that very helpful as usually I just try to feel the rhythm but sometimes just can't get it, not often but it does happen Thanks a lot.
really appreciate your teaching style . I am admittedly slow and you move along at a pace I can follow . It seems like some on line instructors ( and not calling any names ) are (unconsciously perhaps ) more demonstrating their abilities for one to emulate if one can . compassion versus ego maybe
La bam ba 11 count...Louie loui..... Tequila....tha was fun another up all night counting...how about I send you a million dollars and just invite a bunch of stitch heads and jam all the time..that would be nice
This is helpful...and I agree learning down up down up is an extra step...learning to count in different time signatures that's propper ...music is math. There are no shortcuts ....great lesson
Its worth finding songs in unusual time signatures and listening to how they divide up time. Jethro Tull's Living in the Past (orig version) is an interesting take on 5/4. Jimmy Page's Black Mountain Side is largely (but not entirely) in 9/8. Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough to be my Man is in 6/4. Pink Floyd Money is 7/4. Intro to Allman Bros Whipping Post is 11/4. Some of the specialist finger-style guitarists do things in odd times. Leo Kottke's A Trout Toward Noon has 3 bars in 4/4 followed by what amount to decorations in 3/4. There are online lists of songs in unusual time signatures. There's a lot more than you might think.
Mr. Stich, this is a great presentation, and you (well) covered two of the three things a musician needs to know on this subject. (I know...you're probably gonna let me have it, after this one....and you doubtless covered that third item in another video). But...and this is from my own personal experience 62 years ago...started guitar seriously at age 7. I couldn't grasp how some songs in 4/4 time were slow and rhythmic and others in 4/4 were greased lightning....ahem....beats per minute (BPM). I was in high school when the light FINALLY went on....nobody had 'splained that to me before. Soooo.... Time signature is number of beats PER MEASURE (the TOP number) and the BOTTOM number tells you WHICH note gets the BEAT. The TEMPO tells the musician HOW FAST (or how SLOWLY) to play the music, expressed in beats-per-minute (BPM)....or one of those Latin phrases, which you can look up on "Wikipedia tempo"....ok, classically-trained types can chime in now, if you like. Sorry, Ian....I KNOW I'm gonna hear from you. But it WAS a tremendously GOOD presentation, Ian !!!!! Always in friendship. ... Crossbow
@@MikeDGuitar Yep...quaver = eighth note and crotchet = quarter note and then we have the semi's.... I got into music because my neighbor told me "Doug, music's REAL simple...heck there's only 7 notes in all of music! Only 7 notes you need to know." Then, later, he snuck in the sharps/flats....never explained tempo.... As I continued my music journey, I sat down one day, many years later.....and the thought came to me ....the REALIZATION, really.. that EVERY PIECE OF MUSIC ....EVER WRITTEN ... has used only those 7 tones and 5 semitones...Bach, Beethovan, Mozart, Rolling Stones, Mary Had A Little Lamb, and ME...only have those few SIMPLE NOTES to use....and everything that ever will be written in the FUTURE..only has that small group of notes to use in ANY song !!!!! My mind was blown....still is !!!!!
I don't know if you realize it Ian, but at the beginning when you're playing the quarter note, you're playing the notes for I Remember You by Skid Row.
I was sure when you got to 11/4 and noted that it could be broken down into 3+3+3+2, that you were going to mention Whipping Post (Allman Brothers). The song is in 12/4 but the intro is 11/4 (though some amateur bands don’t play the intro properly: I guess they need some time signature practice!).
@@StichMethodGuitar Don Henley can blow it out his bass drum! What a pompous, uncool jerk...60 people employed trying to catch a few measures of an Eagles song on RUclips so he can interfere with someone like you for using it as an example while teaching. I have enjoyed the music of the Eagles since I first heard them, but their history and the way Frey and Henley abused the musicians in the band has always troubled me. Henley's RUclips censorship is the final straw for me!
What is the name of the song with the intro that goes: G (1 2&) Cadd9 (3) arpeggio. repeat? I hear The Counting Crows (not sure) but the lead singer's voice is very recognizable.
I like to think of the subdivisions as bricks. So each brick equals one segment. I don't stress on each brick. I just figure that all in all it's just another brick in the waltz.
Mr. Stich: Watching another great lesson BUT I noticed you play the open "C" chord without playing the B string when shifting to-from G. Is that a method to speed up the change? What strings are you strumming in that case, as it would appear to be a Cmaj7? Help....
I have an idea for a video... something basic that I am having troubles grasping. Along with time signature, I am having trouble understanding beat patterns with time. For example : 4/4 eighth note beat pattern is 1&2&3&4&. Numbers on the down strokes, “&” for upstrokes... lately, I am discovering patterns like 12&&4&... there’s many patterns to choose. I am currently in guitar lessons. The teacher is wanting me to read tabs for ChalkDust, Axilla, or Pink Floyd goodbye blue skies. The teach is frustrated that I can memorize my modes and scales, but can’t keep a rhythm. Any tips would be great!
Tap your foot in time to the beat...best simple answer I can give you...and just THINK the beat....pretty soon your foot will (almost) literally grow a "brain" of its own, and you won't even think about it....THEN learn to FEEL the beat with your whole body. Not kidding...it's how it happens for all of us.
@@StichMethodGuitar I think that's going to be my next guitar. I have a Taylor 12. I think together they'll compliment each other perfectly in recording. Thanks for sharing.
StichMethod Guitar like blocking video content on RUclips because of copyright infringement. I know the eagles are really big on it, but I heard the dead are too. Maybe they just really like you!
Thank you Stich!!!! Sting did a last minute time change to the brass section hired to play on his record " i hung my head" when they arrived at his studio and i have wondered about this for 25 years so thank you again! ruclips.net/video/X0T0QEztDao/видео.html at 34 minutes and 15 seconds so thank you again "a 25 year old problem off my mind" sounds like a good title for a song i should contact Sting!
From a songwriting perspective, changing a time signature in a song can be a very powerful tool -- and not just for weird avant-garde compositions :-). The Elvis Presley song "Suspicious Minds" is in common 4/4, but the bridge switches to 6/8 - it corresponds to a shift in the lyrics and the mood, becoming more plaintive and emotional ("Oh let our love survive, I'll dry the tears from your eyes. Let's don't let a good thing die, when honey, you know I've never lied to you.") -- before going back into 4/4 with a vengeance to finish the song. And a song that I wrote maybe 13 or 14 years ago for/about my daughters is a ballad in 4/4, and the choruses reference how I could put them to bed at night when they were little, and make everything all right, so I wrote a coda at the end that shifts to a 3/4 lullaby, but with the same chord progression. So changing the time signature can be a good thing when it works for the song.
Very insightful of you to describe the example (Elvis) and the power of changing the time signature midstream. Rock on...
This helps a lot man, thanks!
Thanks for info . I'm a Ballad Singer and looking to writing songs.
One of the best videos on the confusing timing ..
Ian, You must be a mind reader! This is just what I've been looking for for the past week or so! Thank you
The timing of this video is perfect for me im just teaching my daughter about this very subject, and you explain it all much better than me! Thank you
Yes!! this is just perfect and very timely lesson. Thank you, sir. Can't wait to digest this lesson.
Thanks for a new way to look at those (formally) scary time signatures.
I love how you close your eyes to count on the difficult time signatures! Thank you for all of your instruction, inspiration and your self depreciation that really is endearing to us mere mortals. You’re awesome 😎
This is a great lesson, simplest and best on RUclips that I have seen regarding time break down and chord switching. Great examples and breakdown thank you for sharing...
Absolutely phenomenal lesson. Thank you, Stich!
Thank you for an extremely important lesson Brother.No timing,NO music.The same with ballroom dancing.Nothing more frustrating to attempt a waltz with a partner that is out of sync in timing.
Nice! Thx Ian. I love the explanation in the beginning, I wish more videos would have this, very helpful. Thx again.
I Loved This! Now I have a new appreciation for and ideas of what I can do with time signatures and rhythms. You Rock! Stay Well.
Whenever I search something to do with guitar and see your face I automatically click on it. Love this channel and thank you for the education
You're an amazing teacher, thank you for the awesome content. Also, you speak exactly like Andy McKee.
This is an awesome timing and strumming lesson! It took me a second go-around to really appreciate it.
This is the best video I've seen in a long time and I will use these methods a lot from now on. I've always found it hard if not impossible to count out odd times without breaking them up. One song I like to practice counting to is Genesis "Apocalypse in 9/8", I count it out in my head as 123451234.
Genesis "Apocalypse in 9/8 is an awesome piece of music, the closing section to "Supper's Ready"
As long as you can still crack yourself up, there is hope in your life. Also excellent lesson, sir! Thank you!
Nice one Mr Stitch I found that very helpful as usually I just try to feel the rhythm but sometimes just can't get it, not often but it does happen Thanks a lot.
really appreciate your teaching style . I am admittedly slow and you move along at a pace I can follow . It seems like some on line instructors ( and not calling any names ) are (unconsciously perhaps ) more demonstrating their abilities for one to emulate if one can . compassion versus ego maybe
Saw this and immediately thought of Mother by PF - can’t wait to watch this in full!
La bam ba 11 count...Louie loui..... Tequila....tha was fun another up all night counting...how about I send you a million dollars and just invite a bunch of stitch heads and jam all the time..that would be nice
This is helpful...and I agree learning down up down up is an extra step...learning to count in different time signatures that's propper ...music is math. There are no shortcuts ....great lesson
All these past 50 years playing House of the rising sun and never realized it was 6/8 time. Thanks, good lesson.
Great sir you are
Awesome. I loved this video. I am working on a bunch of strange strumming patterns and this is a great help.
Its worth finding songs in unusual time signatures and listening to how they divide up time. Jethro Tull's Living in the Past (orig version) is an interesting take on 5/4. Jimmy Page's Black Mountain Side is largely (but not entirely) in 9/8. Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough to be my Man is in 6/4. Pink Floyd Money is 7/4. Intro to Allman Bros Whipping Post is 11/4. Some of the specialist finger-style guitarists do things in odd times. Leo Kottke's A Trout Toward Noon has 3 bars in 4/4 followed by what amount to decorations in 3/4. There are online lists of songs in unusual time signatures. There's a lot more than you might think.
Thank you very much..very helpful video for me as a beginner guitar player,n much relief frustrate ,
Awesome lessons.
Excellent lesson..you are a great teacher
This was really helpful, thanks.
Tremendously helpful lesson. Thanks Ian!
Mr. Stich, this is a great presentation, and you (well) covered two of the three things a musician needs to know on this subject. (I know...you're probably gonna let me have it, after this one....and you doubtless covered that third item in another video). But...and this is from my own personal experience 62 years ago...started guitar seriously at age 7. I couldn't grasp how some songs in 4/4 time were slow and rhythmic and others in 4/4 were greased lightning....ahem....beats per minute (BPM). I was in high school when the light FINALLY went on....nobody had 'splained that to me before. Soooo.... Time signature is number of beats PER MEASURE (the TOP number) and the BOTTOM number tells you WHICH note gets the BEAT. The TEMPO tells the musician HOW FAST (or how SLOWLY) to play the music, expressed in beats-per-minute (BPM)....or one of those Latin phrases, which you can look up on "Wikipedia tempo"....ok, classically-trained types can chime in now, if you like. Sorry, Ian....I KNOW I'm gonna hear from you. But it WAS a tremendously GOOD presentation, Ian !!!!! Always in friendship. ... Crossbow
@@MikeDGuitar Yep...quaver = eighth note and crotchet = quarter note and then we have the semi's.... I got into music because my neighbor told me "Doug, music's REAL simple...heck there's only 7 notes in all of music! Only 7 notes you need to know." Then, later, he snuck in the sharps/flats....never explained tempo.... As I continued my music journey, I sat down one day, many years later.....and the thought came to me ....the REALIZATION, really..
that EVERY PIECE OF MUSIC ....EVER WRITTEN ... has used only those 7 tones and 5 semitones...Bach, Beethovan, Mozart, Rolling Stones, Mary Had A Little Lamb, and ME...only have those few SIMPLE NOTES to use....and everything that ever will be written in the FUTURE..only has that small group of notes to use in ANY song !!!!! My mind was blown....still is !!!!!
I don't know if you realize it Ian, but at the beginning when you're playing the quarter note, you're playing the notes for I Remember You by Skid Row.
awsome lesson thank again for these great videos and well teached
I was sure when you got to 11/4 and noted that it could be broken down into 3+3+3+2, that you were going to mention Whipping Post (Allman Brothers). The song is in 12/4 but the intro is 11/4 (though some amateur bands don’t play the intro properly: I guess they need some time signature practice!).
We "liked"your Dad!! He is awesome!!!!
Great video! Still a little confused about the bottom number though.
Great job.
You're a happy man. Stay the same. God bless!
You're amazing,sensei.
Livin life on the edge with 4 sec. of an eagles song lol careful Stitch!!!! ❤️ your videos!!!
I know! I was pushing it there
@@StichMethodGuitar Don Henley can blow it out his bass drum! What a pompous, uncool jerk...60 people employed trying to catch a few measures of an Eagles song on RUclips so he can interfere with someone like you for using it as an example while teaching. I have enjoyed the music of the Eagles since I first heard them, but their history and the way Frey and Henley abused the musicians in the band has always troubled me. Henley's RUclips censorship is the final straw for me!
Thanks very helpful
What is the name of the song with the intro that goes: G (1 2&) Cadd9 (3) arpeggio. repeat? I hear The Counting Crows (not sure) but the lead singer's voice is very recognizable.
Great information. Could you break down "Tin Man" - America?
The Eleven - Grateful Dead comes to mind~!
Thanks for this lesson, it's very usefull for me.
Would a metronome be useful for these exercises or is it the intention that you count yourself ?
Count yourself first until you absolutely can do it, the use some drum tracks to see if you can follow along.
I like to think of the subdivisions as bricks. So each brick equals one segment. I don't stress on each brick. I just figure that all in all it's just another brick in the waltz.
How do you hold your guitar?
Thanks, you took some mystery out of this stuff. Looks like the denominator 4 really doesn't mean a thing.
It just means quarter note takes the count. Rock on
Mr. Stich: Watching another great lesson BUT I noticed you play the open "C" chord without playing the B string when shifting to-from G. Is that a method to speed up the change? What strings are you strumming in that case, as it would appear to be a Cmaj7? Help....
It's a Cadd9
Now I get the point
So do you do this to a metronome?
I have an idea for a video... something basic that I am having troubles grasping. Along with time signature, I am having trouble understanding beat patterns with time. For example : 4/4 eighth note beat pattern is 1&2&3&4&. Numbers on the down strokes, “&” for upstrokes... lately, I am discovering patterns like 12&&4&... there’s many patterns to choose. I am currently in guitar lessons. The teacher is wanting me to read tabs for ChalkDust, Axilla, or Pink Floyd goodbye blue skies. The teach is frustrated that I can memorize my modes and scales, but can’t keep a rhythm. Any tips would be great!
Tap your foot in time to the beat...best simple answer I can give you...and just THINK the beat....pretty soon your foot will (almost) literally grow a "brain" of its own, and you won't even think about it....THEN learn to FEEL the beat with your whole body. Not kidding...it's how it happens for all of us.
What IS that gorgeous guitar Ian?!!
Oh you mean the Taylor AD27? Yes it’s pretty smooth
@@StichMethodGuitar I think that's going to be my next guitar. I have a Taylor 12. I think together they'll compliment each other perfectly in recording. Thanks for sharing.
Started watching this thinking it might not be as interesting as your normal lessons. I was wrong!
I can’t be the only one that hates the ad “wHaT, YoUr pLaYiNg GuITAr?” “yEa, tHiS nEw ApP sImPlY gUitAr”
It irks me too
Nice.
❤❤
If you can strum Estimated Prophet correctly you can probably strum to any time signature.
Stitch... I just heard the Dead are all about blocking so I have to ask... how do you do it????
What do you mean blocking?
StichMethod Guitar like blocking video content on RUclips because of copyright infringement. I know the eagles are really big on it, but I heard the dead are too. Maybe they just really like you!
🤷♂️😬
Is money in 7/4?
Yup
Thank you Stich!!!! Sting did a last minute time change to the brass section hired to play on his record " i hung my head" when they arrived at his studio and i have wondered about this for 25 years so thank you again!
ruclips.net/video/X0T0QEztDao/видео.html
at 34 minutes and 15 seconds
so thank you again "a 25 year old problem off my mind"
sounds like a good title for a song i should contact Sting!
Like watching CNN, these are difficult times...
:-D