Pyramid song 4/4 explained.

Just a quick 4/4 demonstration.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Radiohead
• Pyramid
• Song
• 4/4

[mr2gti]

4/4 is the ability to count to 4,but an added bonus of being able to count to it 4 times.

[mr2gti]

Glad to help, it's just that musicians, as clever as Radiohead, retune there brains for tunes like this so they can do half beats, and swaps, which the Pyramid Song is full of.

Another great style of music for this, DRUM AND BASS :)

[DiabolicBadger]

This song is actually in 8/4, which is subdivided into 3/4, 2/4 and then 3/4 again. (5/4 is in itself a combination of 3 and 2.) So the 4/4 beat does "fit" over the song, but it doesn't feel like 4/4 at all.

[fenixx67]

Did anyone else get reminded of EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE when it was played along with the beats ?

[immayhem]

nice.

ha... i did something similar to explain it to someone (had them clap it) when they asked what time sig it was.

i love this song and like playing it a lot.

years ago, at first listen, i thought it was some kind of compound meter, but when i learned the song, i was more astonished at how awesome the accents were that masked the simple cut time.

[areharald]

Thanks for making this!

[SuperiFox]

@fenixx67 Everything in it's right place is also often called 5/4, but it's 10/4.

[facecheek]

@SFXAlien924 exactly, i agree!

[SFXAlien924]

The time signature is more like 12/8 (4 dotted crotchets per bar), or 4/4 swing, using a lot of qvaver triplets. So the beat would fit even better still if there were 3 hi hat hits per beat, instead of 4: 1 * * 2 * * 3 * * 4 * * instead of: 1 * * * 2 * * * 3 * * * 4 * * * Good video though.

[15381472]

thanks, great upload i've always wondered how thom counted this

[trombonejuggle]

some people get confused because the eighth note is swung. that's why people misinterpret the relatively simple #/4 meter for something more complex. when the drums kick in, I seem most comfortable thinking in this meter(rhythm) pattern: 3/4(as 2 dotted-eighths,) 2/4 (as a half note,) 3/4(as 2 dotted-eighths,) 3/4(as 2 dotted-eighths the second one changes pitch,) 2/4 (as a half note,) 3/4(as 2 dotted-eighths) Phil Selway kind of plays it like a jazz waltz that gets interrupted with 2/4 holds.

[DiabolicBadger]

@sdofik Nothing makes a difference, we are all apes clinging to a rock falling through space. But if we're going to analyze music, we might as well do it correctly, no?

[sdofik]

@DiabolicBadger it doesn't make a difference, actually. nor does it matter how it's subdivided