What Is A Time Signature, And What Does It Mean?

When we're learning music there's going to be 3 different problems that we run into. There will be physical problems, which is the stuff we talk about on the pad. There will be mental problems, stuff that you just don't understand. The third is emotional/spiritual problems, things that just don't feel right, or they won't work for you for some reason or another. (more on this in future articles)

Time signatures are a mental problem. So don't worry about having an instrument nearby. This article is merely about understanding time. Here are some common (and not so common) time signatures that you'll see.

4 3 7 11
4 4 8 16

So, what do these numbers tell us? The top number designates the number of beats that will be played in each measure, and the bottom number tells us what type of note is counted as one beat. So in 4/4 (they're not really fractions, but this is the easiest way to write them in text) we'll have four quarter notes per measure. In 3/4 we would have three quarter notes per measure. There would be two quarter notes in a measure of 2/4 and so on. A measure includes all of the notes and rests that happen between two bar lines in music.

When we play in 7/8 we'll have seven eighth notes per measure, and in 11/16, we'll have eleven sixteenth notes in each measure. These few examples demonstrate most of the possibilities, however a few more exist. The bottom number is always going to be an even number (except for when some 20th century classical composer wanted to be clever) and will also commonly appear as a 2 or a 32 in addition to the previous examples. If it is a 2, then the half note is counted as one beat, and if it's a 32 then the 32nd note will be counted as one beat.

So, if you're playing in 4/4 you'll count to four. If you're playing in 13/16 you'll count to 13. If you're in 51/8 you'd count to 51. (not likely) So, only the TOP number affects the count. The bottom tells what is being counted. It's like saying I have 5 apples. If those apples were a time signature, they would appear as 5/apples.

There are also two "special" time signatures that don't use numbers. Sometimes you'll see a capital "C" for the time signature. This means common time, and is just short hand for writing 4/4. The other is called cut time, and is designated by again using a capital "C", but this time it will have a vertical line through it, thus cutting it in half. Cut time is equivalent to a 2/2 time signature, so it will look like a normal 4/4 measure, but the half note gets the beat, meaning that the notes will go by faster, and if there's a conductor, he'll conduct in 2/4 rather than 4/4.

Note, also that you'll rarely see 1 as the top number. It does happen, but counting 1, 1, 1, 1, over and over, doesn't really help you keep track of where you are. It's common to see numbers from 2-12 as the top number, but numbers up to the twenties and thirties do appear on occasion as well. Smaller numbers are easier to keep track of.

Count along and see if you can tell what time signatures your favorite songs are in!

Aaron Reinhard
Aaron has been playing drums for 16 years and teaching for the last 8. He has taught hundreds of students from ages 2 to 72 successfully and is the owner of The KISS Drum Method.