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Please help - I'm thinking too much in 3/4

borisb2

borisb2

Senior Member
I recently noticed that whenever I step away from the computer (and the piano) and let my thoughts carry me (to unknown new places bla bla... :P) - most melodies and ideas in my head come in in 3/4 - rather than 4/4 ..

Am I cursed? What is wrong with me? Do I need treatment?
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borisb2 said:
I recently noticed that whenever I step away from the computer (and the piano) and let my thoughts carry me (to unknown new places bla bla... :P) - most melodies and ideas in my head come in in 3/4 - rather than 4/4 ..

Am I cursed? What is wrong with me? Do I need treatment?
Click to expand...
I discovered during a continuing deep study of Zappa's music he has a ton of stuff written in 3/4. Of course there are other meters (odd ones at that); but, 3/4 has a good share of @50 tunes I've pulled apart. Zappa as one of our best, shows you are in a good space.

Depending on your genre of choice, you could check out Rush -- a lot of its tunes are in 7/8. 7/4. You can start with Tom Sawyer to add an extra beat to your vibe.
Keep rocking, Bill
 
borisb2 said:
I recently noticed that whenever I step away from the computer (and the piano) and let my thoughts carry me (to unknown new places bla bla... :P) - most melodies and ideas in my head come in in 3/4 - rather than 4/4 ..

Am I cursed? What is wrong with me? Do I need treatment?
Click to expand...
You are 100% okay! I love 3/4 ... . ;)
 
Nah, you're totally fine. 3/4 is great.
But if you really, I mean really-really need to get to 4/4 sometimes, just make those ideas in your head 6/8 and start feeling the 2-triplet-pulse. A spoonful of 6/8 and the knowledge that 3/4 and 4/4 eventually will come together at 12, just in case the 3/4-symptomps persist. :)

I made a record a few years ago and 90% of my melodies came out from my head in 7/4 (!). I had to rearrange them afterwards to split the tracks into 7/4, 5/4, 3/4, 6/8 and 4/4. Oddly enough, the only tune I had written in plain 4/4 turned into a 12/8 when the drummer joined the reahearsal :)
me- dude, it's in 4
drummer- swings better this way, doesn't it?
me- yeah, you're right, I'll play triplets feel
bassist - I'm playing in 2, what are you guys talking about?
 
Write a sonnet in iambic pentameter. The horror of the fixed, prancing syncopation will erase any conerns about 3/4 time. :2thumbs:
 
borisb2 said:
I recently noticed that whenever I step away from the computer (and the piano) and let my thoughts carry me (to unknown new places bla bla... :P) - most melodies and ideas in my head come in in 3/4 - rather than 4/4 ..

Am I cursed? What is wrong with me? Do I need treatment?
Click to expand...
Lol there's nothing wrong with that all. However if you really wish to break the habit, you gotta do it cold turkey.
 
It's fine. It's your style, you're the 3/4 man. At least you're not writing in 4/4 all the time like everyone else. My natural meter is 6/4. I run in 6/4, I count in 6/4. My other natural meter is 13/8. Go figure. :)
 
borisb2 said:
I recently noticed that whenever I step away from the computer (and the piano) and let my thoughts carry me (to unknown new places bla bla... :P) - most melodies and ideas in my head come in in 3/4 - rather than 4/4 ..

Am I cursed? What is wrong with me? Do I need treatment?
Click to expand...

When I started playing guitar I was still listening to a lot of deathmetal like Cannibal Corpse etc. and my own riffs came out in odd meters all the time - 7/8, 11/8, 13/8 you name it. A friend of mine who was a drummer was a bit confused how that came natural to me but 4/4 didn't. The singer of his other band did this too, but he didn't listen to deathmetal I think.
Now that I listen to different music that is more often in 4/4 my own riffs also mostly come out as 4/4 or 5/4.
 
Why waste the time waiting for that fourth beat to arrive when life flows so much better in 3’s?

 
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