Is it possible to have time signatures that aren't powers of 2?

[IDontNotDoThings]

Like 6/7, 2/3, 8/11, etc. I don't think it's possible but I couldn't find anything confirming it or denying it (& there's probably more to my understanding of music than I know now).

[Adami]

No. Unless you're basing it around a dotted note.

[Crow]

2 is a prime number

[IDontNotDoThings]

No. Unless you're basing it around a dotted note.

Alright then. What does basing on a dotted note mean?

2 is a prime number

Touche. Changed the title.

[Adami]

So it's a matter of how many beats a note carries. They're broken down into 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32, etc.

A dotted note is that value plus half. So a dotted quarter note would carry a beat of 3. And so forth.

I'm not a music theory expert, been a super long time since I've studied it at all. So maybe someone can correct me.

[Prog Snob]

Only on Jordan's continuum can you play anything but even numbers. Sometimes, if you listen closely, you will hear him playing in  4 over 3/7 time

[CDrice]

As far as I know it's not really common practice, but it still exists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature#Irrational_meters

[seasonsinthesky]

You sure can! But it won't necessarily sound like it. Irrational time sigs might make the sheet music look cool or be more manageable for weird moments, but the actual effect on the listener will likely just make them hear some other, more common time sig, or none at all.

[IDontNotDoThings]

As far as I know it's not really common practice, but it still exists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature#Irrational_meters

I skimmed through that & I'm slightly confused. If by the first example it gave (the one on the right), it shows that 4/3 time is basically 4 minims compressed into 3 beats. If that's the case, if every instrument in a song was in 4/3, would you even be able to notice? Like, if the tempo of a song was 120BPM & seemed like it was in 4/4, wouldn't that be the same as saying the song is in 160BPM & is in 4/3? The 4/3 would have to be relative to something else, wouldn't it?

Also, just a random thought I had:
Aren't triplets a common thing in music, including any other time signatures? Does that mean that if a song is in 4/4, but the whole song is written in triplets, that just the same as having a song in 3/4? 

Edit: ninja'd

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Irrational time sigs might make the sheet music look cool or be more manageable for weird moments, but the actual effect on the listener will likely just make them hear some other, more common time sig, or none at all.

This.  I can't even wrap my head around the idea yet and I have a pretty good grasp of music theory.  It looks cool, but your brain is never going to hear that.  It's going to hear something that sounds like it's divisible by two.

[Kotowboy]

Like - Justin Chancellor said that Schism is 6.5/8


It makes more sense to think of it as 13 if it is...

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

At first, I assumed he was just being a tool, but I have to imagine he was just being sarcastic.  The only reason anyone would say something like that is to be sarcastic and joking or to appear superior to everyone else.

[Stadler]

At first, I assumed he was just being a tool, but I have to imagine he was just being sarcastic.  The only reason anyone would say something like that is to be sarcastic and joking or to appear superior to everyone else.

He was absolutely being a Tool.  Oh, you meant "tool".   Sorry. 

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

But, of course!  Couldn't help it.

[Stadler]

As far as I know it's not really common practice, but it still exists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature#Irrational_meters

I skimmed through that & I'm slightly confused. If by the first example it gave (the one on the right), it shows that 4/3 time is basically 4 minims compressed into 3 beats. If that's the case, if every instrument in a song was in 4/3, would you even be able to notice? Like, if the tempo of a song was 120BPM & seemed like it was in 4/4, wouldn't that be the same as saying the song is in 160BPM & is in 4/3? The 4/3 would have to be relative to something else, wouldn't it?

I don't think this is necessarily true; there's some subjectivity at the extremes, but a song being in 4/4 or 3/4 and a song being at a tempo of 120 or 160 bpm are not really related.  Metallica in 4/4 and Pink Floyd in 4/4 still have the same relationships between note values and beats to the bar, but they will likely be played at different tempos.

Also, just a random thought I had:
Aren't triplets a common thing in music, including any other time signatures? Does that mean that if a song is in 4/4, but the whole song is written in triplets, that just the same as having a song in 3/4? 

Edit: ninja'd

Again, not really the same thing.   I can have four beats per bar (the top number) and each note is a quarter note (the bottom number) and still play triplets.  It might sound a little weird because of the emphasis but it doesn't change the time signature any.   (Steve Harris, anyone?)

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

You could make the argument that if it was 4/4 and the whole song was written in triplets, that maybe it's better served to make it 12/8.

Again, these are distinctions that, to the average listener, are completely meaningless though.

[Adami]

Like - Justin Chancellor said that Schism is 6.5/8


It makes more sense to think of it as 13 if it is...

It's like that one DT section that's in 19/16. I mean 4.75/4.

[darkshade]

Well, there's Free Time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_time_(music)

[ariich]

The most important thing to understand is that the lower number in a time signature doesn't technically mean anything. It's the top number that defines how many beats in a measure. The lower number simply indicates the tempo or feel.

So, technically there is no difference between 3/4 and 3/8. 3/4 suggests a slow, waltz-like tempo while 3/8 suggests quicker triplets. But a 3/8 at half the speed of a 3/4 is identical.

So irrational time signatures again only exist to indicate feel. That Wikipedia example of 4/3 means nothing technical. But what it suggests is that the feel of the music at that point is three beats per measure (and is therefore probably in 3/4), but the specific part has 4 notes per measure. Personally I think the irrational time signature actually makes it a lot more confusing.

[Kilgore Trout]

Deleted message

[Chino]

I know what some of the things in this thread mean.

[rumborak]

Aarich speaks wisdom. The denominator is little more than a vague agreement for tempo, and serves to indicate the "base unit" of the measure. There is no difference between a 3/4 or a 3/5, the measure still comes to an end after 3 beats.