eli5: what’s the difference between songs in 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8? why is there maths in music?
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Music is built around beats, and those beats are arranged into patterns where some beats feel “stronger” than others. The strong beats are often played louder, correspond with chord changes, and so on. Time signatures like 4/4 and 3/4 are shorthand for certain beat patterns.
2/4 is the simplest pattern, just alternating strong and weak beats
4/4 is the most common in modern music, it goes strong-weak-medium-weak
3/4 is strong-weak-weak
6/8 is a little more complicated, because it doesn’t actually have six beats, it has two. The pattern is strong-weak, like 2/4, but the beats are subdivided into three rather than two. This is called compound meter. So if you wanted to subdivide 2/4 you would go “1-and-2-and” but 6/8 goes “1-and-a-2-and-a”. That adds up to 6 eighth notes, but there are only two beats.
12/8 is 4/4’s equivalent compound meter. 1-and-a-2-and-a-3-and-a-4-and-a.
These are the most common time signatures but they’re not the only ones. Sometimes 2/4 will be written as 2/2 – these are completely equivalent and you can ignore the bottom number as long as it’s not hinting at compound meter. Odd time signatures like 7/8 are a bit less clear. They tell you there’s a strong beat every 7, sure, but where are the “medium” beats? Does it go 3-2-2, 2-3-2, 2-2-3? This can vary between songs.
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