If you’re listening to a digital recording, try turning up the bass so that you can hear it more easily. In a song, the bass line often carries the steady beat. Ignore the complex rhythm and melody. Try to pick out what feels like the heartbeat of the song. Listening to the drumline is the best way to count the beats. In country and rock music, you can typically hear the bass drum on beats 1 and 3 and the snare on 2 and 4. In pop, funk, and house music, the bass drum is generally played on all 4 beats, which is referred to as “four on the floor. “[2] X Research source
Think of listening to a song as though you were listening to a conversation. Where would the breaths be? What sounds like a musical “sentence”? Try counting these smaller sections of the music to find where the downbeats fall.
A whole note lasts for 4 beats. A half note lasts for 2 beats. A quarter note lasts for 1 beat. An eighth note lasts for a half of a beat. A sixteenth note lasts for a quarter of a beat. Rests follow the patterns of the notes. For example, a half rest is a silence that lasts for 2 beats. A dot next to a rest or a note means that the note or rest is increased by half its value. For example, a dotted half note lasts for 3 beats. [5] X Research source
In a song, the downbeat is the first articulated beat in a bar. For example, the “one. ” Make sure you find and articulate this first. The upbeat is the “and. ” For example, if you are tapping your foot to a beat, the upbeat is the time when your toes are in the air.
The top number tells you how many beats will be in each measure. The bottom number tells you what kind of note each beat is. For instance, if the bottom number is 1, that means whole notes and if the bottom number is 2, that means half notes. Similarly, 4 means quarter notes and 8 means eighth notes.
Simple time can be duple, triple, or quadruple, which means the top number will always be 2, 3, or 4. Unlike compound time, in simple time, you feel the beat in multiples of 2. This means that you can divide each note in each bar into 2. For example, in 2/4 time, the 2 quarter notes per bar can each be subdivided into 2 eighth notes. The natural accent falls in multiples of 2 or 3. Tap your feet. When figuring out the time signature by listening to a song, pay attention to the beat of the bass line. Try to determine whether or not the pulse you hear can be naturally divided into 2. Listen to determine a repeating pattern of rhythm, and count how many notes occur between each repetition. Remember common time signatures. A lot of Western music uses 4/4 time, so when in doubt, try counting in 4/4 and see if it fits. Familiarize yourself with other time signatures. For example, 3/4 has a waltz feel to it.
In compound time, divide the top number by 3 to get the number of beats in a bar. The units of the beats are found in the bottom number. For example, in 6/8 time, there are 2 beats per measure, and each beat lasts 3 eighth notes, or a dotted quarter note. The common children’s song “Row Your Boat” can be counted in 6/8 time, beginning with 2 dotted quarter notes in “row, row. ” Try tapping your feet while you sing this song to understand how compound time feels.
It’s easiest to look at complex time signatures as a combination of simple and compound time signatures. For example, in 5/8, there is one simple beat (two eighth notes) and one compound beat (three eight notes). The order these beats appear in the measure doesn’t matter. When you listen to a song that utilizes a complex time signature, you will notice that some of the beats subdivide into two and some into three. Use your simple and compound counting skills to keep track of complex meters.
