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Comment by gonewest | Hacker News Reader

As a drummer I really like odd time signatures, for example the Pat Metheny Group song entitled "First Circle" is in 22/8... For fun, try memorizing and clapping the pattern at the opening of the piece.

http://www.halfstepup.com/articles/odd-time-signatures-in-co...

http://youtu.be/4YeoIn5-mSs

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I'm also a big fan of odd time signatures, especially those that change. A great example of this is Dream Theater's "The Dance Of Eternity": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ftRhsvvfBw In ~6 minutes, there are 104 time signature changes, largely between 3/2, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, and 7/4.

Another great one is Radiohead's "Pyramid Song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKQPqs-cqc It's in (3+3+4+3+3)/16 (depending on how you interpret it), and it's one of the hardest songs to count, as the last note is swung and deceptive. But it's a great composition.

I remember Sale to the Moon, also by Radiohead, as being particularly strange. It changes from bar to bar.

from memory, one beat gets chopped off the end each repetition, or something like that.

Pyramid Song is in 4/4. If you only listen to the piano part, then you might think it's odd, but when written in 4/4 the notes are just dotted quarter notes and half notes. The drum part is more revealing of the 4/4 time signature.

http://cloud.freehandmusic.netdna-cdn.com/preview/530x4/warn...

This doesn't really follow, to me. If you count out the piano part, you get the groups of 3 pretty quickly, then the group of 4 that sits in the middle is immediately apparent.

Counting the drums, to my ear, gives (5+4+4+3)/4, not 4/4. But admittedly, those could be counted differently.

I definitely disagree completely that this song is in 4/4, though the exact groupings can be tough to determine.

I assure you, it's in 4/4. I've transcribed and arranged this song myself. Also, that screenshot is from the official Amnesiac sheet music book.

Dave Brubeck's Time Out has some well-known examples of interesting time signatures. My favorite is Kathy's Waltz [1].

The second half of the song includes a section in which the drummer maintains a 3/4 waltz beat while Dave improvises over top, seamlessly moving between the 3/4 waltz and a 4/4 swing.

I don't know of any other similar performances, but would be interested if anybody can recommend some.

[1] https://play.spotify.com/track/6qNWmjlMAW503WLZLfjUba

[Edit] Having just listened to it a second time, it's actually more interesting. The drummer is playing a kind of 6/8 but using the hi-hat on every other beat. The bass player is placing notes on beats 1 and 4, and Paul Desmond and Dave are improvising on top. I'd be interested in others' assessment of what's happening in that second part of the song though.

First Circle is one of the best (and hardest) songs that my former jazz orchestra played - I was on drums. We used a score from UNC, I believe.

You're right that the time signature is effectively 22/8. Our charts were written in 12/8+10/8 alternating (22 beats) but there were 4 bars of 12/8 and one of 8/8 at the end of the verses. I think the solo sections were mostly 12/8.

The song works best if the whole band feels the accented rhythms, rather than explicitly counting everything. But when it comes together, it is a powerful piece of music.

The song "Hey Ya!" by Outkast is in 11/4 time. There's no shortage of prog rock and prog metal in unusual time signatures but for a catchy hit song to have such a quirky rhythm was unusual.

Drummer that likes odd time signatures? Here's some Zappa for you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6uXANvaK1I

This is pretty odd: http://youtube.com/watch?v=69md7aLuo2I

(Pete Zeldman/Enigma)

that piece is pretty awesome. rather more difficult to figure out than the terminator theme with all the syncopation and what not.

I've always loved odd time sigs. I recently got turned on to Indian classical tabla music, which is utterly ridiculous.. I'd say the gap in complexity vs the above is comparable to 22/8 vs 4/4.

big fan of Tool drummer here so yeah, loving weird signatures.

Most of Tool's most interesting drum parts (to me, at least) aren't really weird time signatures, just weird polyrhythms. The Grudge is a fun one.

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