Shawn1379

First, if this is a moronic question, I apologize. I don't know a ton of music theory, so I hope I'm not asking about a simple concept that everyone knows about.

Anyway, I was talking to someone recently, and he told me that he wrote a song in 4/5 timing.

My first thought was, "wow, you are full of crap", because I thought that the timing was impossible. Admittedly, however, my knowledge of timing is pretty basic. I couldn't really find much on the internet, so I thought I'd ask about it here.

It's not possible, right? I'd think 4/5 timing would mean playing four fifth notes per measure, and fifth notes don't exist as far as I know.

I'm guessing he meant he wrote the song in 5/4, but he definitely said 4/5 and it got me curious as to whether or not it's possible.

Thanks in advance for any help.

DiminishedFifth

I call bull shit. Not because it doesn't exist (it does... "irrational time sigs"), but because it's very hard to do and most people would just put it in 4/4 in a weird tempo. Those sigs are usually used for only a measure, maybe two, at most. Where a tempo change would seem oddly placed or over-complicated/pretentious.

__________________

Jonny Blaze

It is bullshit. You're right he probably meant 5/4

jazz_rock_feel

It's theoretically possible, but I doubt that if your friend was bragging about writing in 4/5 he has the intellectual capacity to actually write something in 4/5
In any case, an irrational time sig like this would have to be used in the context of other time signatures to make any sense at all, because 4/5 without any backdrop of beat structure is just 4/4.

__________________

An Afternoon with Stravinsky: Analysis and Observations of the Symphony of Psalms

I finally updated my SoundCloud with more recent pieces. Check it.

Shawn1379

Yeah, he's a cool guy and all and he's a pretty good musician when it comes to writing, but he's the type to talk out of his ass every once in a while. I figured that's what he was doing.

I mean, he knows a lot of stuff I don't know, but he can barely jam out while staying in time or in the right key, so I wouldn't think his knowledge of rhythm is so advanced that he'd be able to play in such an odd time signature.

Thanks for the info, guys.

AlanHB

Actually it sounds like he knows very little.

However, it could be possible that his timing is soooo bad that the song is in 4/4, but he plays it in 5/4.

__________________
And no, Guitar Hero will not help. Even on expert. Really.

DiminishedFifth

__________________

Shawn1379

Haha, I wish you could talk to him. He's kind of full of himself when it comes to music.

It'd be nice to see someone knock him down a few pegs.

DiminishedFifth

Tell him to register so he can teach us a few things.

__________________

NakedInTheRain

Get him to make an account and post a thread in this forum arguing his point of view. He'll humbled (to say the least) within a couple of pages. This forum has a tendency to do that.

EDIT: ^lol, ninja'd.

__________________
Pedalboard Thread Native: The Fuzzy Little Man Peach

UG's Best Small Pedalboard 2013

Shawn1379

Lol, he knows I go on this site, and my username is my real name (Shawn....not the 1379 part).

There's actually a good chance he might see this now that I think about it...

Oh, well. It's the truth. So **** it.

AlanHB

Oh I've met many people like him before. Usually their confidence in their playing is destroyed during a jam with me, then I befriend them and help them start from the ground up again. One of my closest friends and I actually met this way.

__________________
And no, Guitar Hero will not help. Even on expert. Really.

Metallicuh

Yeah the time signature is impossible
There is no such thing as fifth notes which makes it impossible
He probably meant 5/4

__________________


If God was a woman, we would all be sandwiches.

WishfulShredder

U mad?

Attached Images

 

__________________
www.last.fm/user/Dakka_dakka

SGstriker

That's ******ed...

Why not just write it in 4/4 time with a faster tempo??

__________________
You just read my above post in Patrick Star's voice, didn't you?

jazz_rock_feel

^That's the thing, irrational time sigs have to be juxtaposed in some way (i.e. played at the same time or side by side) with another time signature to make them anything at all.

__________________

An Afternoon with Stravinsky: Analysis and Observations of the Symphony of Psalms

I finally updated my SoundCloud with more recent pieces. Check it.

TheLetheProject

It sounds like it'd be essentially 4/4 but with the Quarter notes broken up into those 5 16th notes (as WishfulShredder posted). I honestly don't see any purpose in doing so.

__________________
Squier Affinity J Bass
Carvin BR510N

1977 Takamine F360S
Ibanez GSA60
Peavey Delta Blues 115 (demo: http://soundcloud.com/theletheproje...blues-115-demo/ )

DiminishedFifth

It's for quick sections that wouldn't fit in any tuplets. Like, as above, 4 fifth notes. You need a reference time sig though... like 4/4. It's really only good in short bursts.

__________________

TMVATDI

what if some1 just broke each quarter note in 4/4 into 5 lil notes (tuplets?) and played measures repeatitively like that, haha would that be like 20/5?

yeah every1 here's right, he sounds douchey, probly meant 5/4, and 4/5 is like diminished has been saying, an irrational time sig (something i've never used and have minimal understanding of) usually used in small bursts that you can't play a whole song in because u need an original time sig for it to be compared to.