A friend recently proposed a bit of a puzzle: How many times does the time signature change in the Rush song Limelight? I hadn’t ever really tried to figure it out before so I thought I’d give it a shot, and rather than just erasing my work, I thought I’d go ahead and post it here in case anyone else is interested.
I’ve chosen to use additive time signatures, which may look a bit odd at first. When you see something like “4+3/4” it means that there are seven beats in the measure (4+3), but that the beats are arranged in a group of four then three (as opposed to three then four, or two then three then two, etc.) You can just as easily write this as 7/4, or as alternating measures of 4/4 and 3/4.
It’s also important to note that music can be written down in any number of ways. For example, in the verses I heard two measures or 3/4 followed by two measures of 4+2/4 (or 6/4). This could have been written as six measures of 3/4, but it would have been more awkward to count and syncopated. The music felt like it should be broken down like I have done it here.
Also, interestingly, at the end of the bridge and the start of the last chorus, the drums are playing in 4/4 while the rest of the band is playing in 3/4.
If you want to follow along, you can listen here:
Intro:
- 6 measures 4/4
- 4 measures 4+3/4
Verse:
- 2 measures 3/4
- 2 measures 4+2/4
- 2 measures 3/4
- 1 measure 4/4
- 1 measure 4+3/4
Fill 1:
- 1 measure 4+3/4
Repeat: Verse
Chorus:
- 7 measures 3/4
- 8 measures 4/4
Fill 2:
- 3 measures 3/4
- 2 measures 4+3/4
Repeat: Verse, Fill 1, Verse, Chorus
Fill 3:
- 2 measures 4/4
Bridge:
- 30 measures 3/4
Repeat: Chorus, Fill 3
Ending:
- 12 measures 4/4
-
Wow Alex.
You’ve done really good with this. I would suggest an alternative time sig structure for the first section though:
Intro:
4 measures 6/4 — there is a heavy undercurrent of three here.
4 measures 4+3/4Verse:
2 measures 3/4
2 measures 2+4/4 — because I’m hearing an accent on the 3rd beat above what you would hear if it were normal internal beat stresses in this groupingBut I would certainly leave the rest as it stands.
And, you were right; I did like the song as well.
-
cool. thanks. i get really confused with constantly changing time signatures, as with many rush songs.
-
These meter changes are all left up to preference. You can make a phrase as weird or time signature funky all you want. However the first couple measures are not in 4/4. I see the first measure being in 5/8. Rush is known for having songs in 5/8 or 5/4, especially songs like The Trees or Mission during the solo. My favorite is 7/8!! Like in Anthem and Xanadu. Playing Rush music is so fun and challenging. If you can play La Villa Strangiato, you can play anything.
-
The first measures Of Limelight are definitely in 4/4. It starts on the “and of 3” count the first note played as “and 3 and 4 and 1.
-
I tried this out on Guitar Pro 6 (demo) and it turns out, the best way to make it work is:
The opening riff as an individual segment has 2 time signatures. The first two bars are 6/4 and the last bar (open “A” power chord) is 3/4. The open “A” power chord is a half note with a quarter rest and it works great. Just my two cents. -JB-
correction.. the 3rd bar is 4/4 and it’s a half note with a half rest note. 😀
-
The original poster–alex I think is his name– is correct about the intro. All this business about making it 5/8 or counting the first two bars as 6/4 and then 4/4 with a half not half rest note… makes it unnecessarily complicated. The intro up until the band kicks in is 4/4. The first note of the guitar is not on beat 1. The last 5 guitar notes of the intro are a pick up to the B chord which is pushed ahead of the downbeat. Then we enter 7/4.
-
-
-
9 comments
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link: http://www.thefrankes.com/wp/wp-trackback.php?p=2165