How To Play
What Are Time Signatures?
A time signature tells you how music is to be counted. In essence
how
many
beats or "seconds" in a bar or measure. They are always shown as a "fraction" or stacked
on
top
of eachother such as 4/4, 3/4 or 6/8. The
top number tells you how many beats to count in each bar, before going back to one,
while
the
bottom number tells you what note to
count or the note value. The bottom number is more confusing to people new to music
and
time
signatures.
Think of time signatures as the length of the song divided into much smaller parts called
measures
or bars. The time signature will effect the feel of the music for examples a waltz, a
fast
song
or a slow song all have different feels and speeds to them
Most Common Time Signatures
The most common time signatures are signatures over 4 such as 4/4 and
3/4. Everybody is familiar with a 4/4 and 3/4 beat. 4/4 is used in pretty much every pop
song ever written and 3/4 is a standard waltz. We've all heard one at a wedding!
Duple, Triple, and Quadruple Classifications
There are three which are the most common: duple (2/2, 2/4, 6/8), triple (3/4, 9/8, 3/2), and quadruple (4/4, 12/8, 4/2). A duple meter has two beats per measure, a triple meter has three beats per measure, and a quadruple meter has four beats per measure.
Signatures over 4
4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 7/4 and others
4/4 means there's 4 beats in a bar or measure, think 1, 2 ,3, 4 or a
drummer
hitting his sticks to bring the band in at the start of a song.
3/4 just means there's 3 beats in the bar not 4.
Time Signatures over 8
6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 12/8 and others
A time signature of 6/8 means count 6 eighth notes to each bar. This is also a very often-used time signature. You would count the beat: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on…
Check Out These Time Signature Examples
Example of 4/4 Time 
Example of 3/4 Time
Example of 5/4 Time
Example of 6/8 Time
Example of 9/8 Time