EASY GUIDE

Identifying simple or compound meter

Learn the secrets behind simple and compound time

1 All music has a pulse – it’s what you’re marking out when you clap along in time. We can work out the type of meter – simple or compound – by dividing this pulse into beats and sub-beats and grouping them together into even groups. Let’s start with 4/4. Clap along to it – if you’re clapping where the kick drum beats are, you’re marking the music’s pulse. 2 The top number of the time signature – 4/4 – indicates the number of beats in each bar. In this case, there are four beats in every bar, so let’s focus on what the drums are doing. The drum track is made up of kick, snare and closed hi-hat parts, and in each bar there are indeed four kick drum beats, two snare drum beats and eight hi-hat beats. 3 The number at the bottom of the time signature indicates the note length of one beat. In this case, the 4 at the bottom means that one beat equals one quarternote (or crotchet). So what 4/4 really means is that there are four beats in each bar, each one a quarter-note in duration. But how do we work out whether this is simple or compound meter? 4 Whether a time signature is simple or compound meter really boils down to how the eighth-note (quaver) beats in a bar can be evenly grouped together. With simple time signatures, eighth-notes can be grouped in pairs. In the case of our 4/4 example, we can group the four quarternote kick drum beats into four pairs of eighth-notes, played here by the hi-hats. 5 When describing the number of beats in a bar, based on the top number in the signature, we use extra terms like ‘duple’ for two beats, triple for three beats or quadruple for four beats. In 4/4’s case, having four beats to the bar qualifies it as quadruple, so 4/4 is a simple quadruple meter. Simple meter time signatures always have 2, 3, or 4 as the top number. 6 So what about 3/4? 3/4 is classified as simple triple, because even though there are three quarter-note beats in each bar (hence the ‘triple’), each one can still be divided into two eighth notes. If we divide all three quarter-note beats into eighth-notes, we end up with six eighthnotes, which can be grouped into three pairs of two, so 3/4 is simple triple.

7 In compound time, eighth-notes are grouped into sets of three. Let’s look at this version of our piece in 6/8. Like 3/4, a bar of music in 6/8 also contains six eighth-notes, but this time they’re divided into two groups of three. Why? Because of this rule: a time signature is compound meter if the upper number is six or above and is also a multiple of three. 8 Another thing that sets simple and compound meters apart is that all compound meters use a dotted note length as their beat. A dotted note is a note whose duration is 50% longer than original, undotted version. So, if a quarternote (or crotchet) is the same duration as two eighth-notes, a dotted quarter-note is the same length as three eighth-notes. 9 Any time signature with 6, 9, or 12 on top will be compound meter, and any signature with a 6 on top will be compound duple. Staying with 6/8, in our example piece, each bar has a clappable one-two pulse. Each of these two kick drum beats can be divided into three eighth-notes, creating a quick, one-twothree, two-two-three hi-hat rhythm. 10 Any time signature with a 9 on top is compound triple. Let’s use a version of our track in 9/8 time as an example. Each bar contains three kick beats, equivalent to three dotted quarter-notes, making it a triple meter. And since each of these dotted quarter-note beats can be divided evenly into three eighth-note hi-hat beats, the meter is compound triple. 11 Finally, any time signature with a 12 on top will be compound quadruple. Here’s our example piece reworked into 12/8 time. There are four kick drum beats in each bar, making it a quadruple meter. Since each kick can be divided evenly into three eighth-note hi-hat beats, the meter is compound quadruple. 12 To sum up, if the upper number is 2, 3, or 4, then it’s simple meter (2/4, 3/2, 3/4, 3/8, 4/4, etc). To be compound, it must be a multiple of 3 but not 3 itself (6/2, 6/4, 9/4, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 12/16, etc). Here are some example time signatures that fall into each type. Generally, the higher the number on the bottom of the time signature, the quicker the pulse.