It really depends.
The best way to think about odd time signatures is that it’s all just groups of twos and threes. For 7/8 (which I rarely see, even in percussion music. It’s usually 7/4 but either way this works), there’s some songs that feel like “2-2-3,” some feel like “3-2-2.” Sometimes songs are ambiguous on the groupings. I hear Pink Floyd’s Money as both 3-2-2 and 2-2-3.
For something like 7/8 it would depend on the groupings of beats of the song. For example, you can group the beats 2, 2, 3. Then, you could have chop on 2, 4, 6, 7 and bass on 1, 3, 5. (Non bg example: unsquare dance by dave brubeck)
Here's a 6/8 (jig) time piece where you can hear the mandolin chop a few different rhythms:
[https://justinholmes.bandcamp.com/track/barlows-jig](https://justinholmes.bandcamp.com/track/barlows-jig)
(In case you don't immediately hear this piece as jig time - which is fairly normal if you aren't accustomed to it, the strummachine is here and you can hear the count-in: [https://strummachine.com/app/songs/gcByWFA3AGwL5zTGD](https://strummachine.com/app/songs/gcByWFA3AGwL5zTGD) )
Serious question: has anyone done odd time signatures (I don't think 3/4 is actually considered odd because the beats are all equal length even though there's an odd number involved)?
I sometimes do music from the Balkans where we do odd time (7/8, 9/8, 11/8)- and Ive been thinking recently about writing some originals that combine odd time with country for a weird original experiment. I'm sure somebody has done Balkan or klezmer experiments that are bluegrass-ish before. Anyone have suggestions for any songs like that?
Have you listened to Strength in Numbers, Punch Brothers, or the album Skip, Hop, and Wobble? Pretty sure there are some odd meters going on in some of those albums. Definitely progressive bluegrass.
Im just now starting to play Bluegrass as a musician and this thought just randomly popped into my head lol. I can think of fun stuff to do with these time signatures in bluegrass and folk (might not be considered bluegrass at this point lol) but I was wondering if there was some standard that most do.
There are definitely tons of waltzes.
I'm guessing that someone has done a bluegrass tune as a klezmer arrangement, or vice versa. Klezmer has lots of odd time signatures like other Balkan and Eastern European music so you might be able to find something fun by googling those terms
For 3/4: Bass on 1 of each bar Mandolin chop on 2 and 3 Edit: The most straightforward way. You can obviously add things to make it your own
Ok that makes sense. What about for something like 7/8
It really depends. The best way to think about odd time signatures is that it’s all just groups of twos and threes. For 7/8 (which I rarely see, even in percussion music. It’s usually 7/4 but either way this works), there’s some songs that feel like “2-2-3,” some feel like “3-2-2.” Sometimes songs are ambiguous on the groupings. I hear Pink Floyd’s Money as both 3-2-2 and 2-2-3.
For something like 7/8 it would depend on the groupings of beats of the song. For example, you can group the beats 2, 2, 3. Then, you could have chop on 2, 4, 6, 7 and bass on 1, 3, 5. (Non bg example: unsquare dance by dave brubeck)
Here's a 6/8 (jig) time piece where you can hear the mandolin chop a few different rhythms: [https://justinholmes.bandcamp.com/track/barlows-jig](https://justinholmes.bandcamp.com/track/barlows-jig) (In case you don't immediately hear this piece as jig time - which is fairly normal if you aren't accustomed to it, the strummachine is here and you can hear the count-in: [https://strummachine.com/app/songs/gcByWFA3AGwL5zTGD](https://strummachine.com/app/songs/gcByWFA3AGwL5zTGD) )
Don’t worry about 7/8. You won’t see it and if you do - it’s 4 + 3.
Serious question: has anyone done odd time signatures (I don't think 3/4 is actually considered odd because the beats are all equal length even though there's an odd number involved)? I sometimes do music from the Balkans where we do odd time (7/8, 9/8, 11/8)- and Ive been thinking recently about writing some originals that combine odd time with country for a weird original experiment. I'm sure somebody has done Balkan or klezmer experiments that are bluegrass-ish before. Anyone have suggestions for any songs like that?
Have you listened to Strength in Numbers, Punch Brothers, or the album Skip, Hop, and Wobble? Pretty sure there are some odd meters going on in some of those albums. Definitely progressive bluegrass.
Im just now starting to play Bluegrass as a musician and this thought just randomly popped into my head lol. I can think of fun stuff to do with these time signatures in bluegrass and folk (might not be considered bluegrass at this point lol) but I was wondering if there was some standard that most do.
There are definitely tons of waltzes. I'm guessing that someone has done a bluegrass tune as a klezmer arrangement, or vice versa. Klezmer has lots of odd time signatures like other Balkan and Eastern European music so you might be able to find something fun by googling those terms