IN THE WOODSHED
From Genesis to Apocalypse with Mickey Mouse in between, let’s delve in to 9/8 time, says Charlie Griffiths as he invites you into the woodshed.
Charlie Griffiths brings you five great licks using the unusual but crackable 9/8 time signature.
Overall 9/8 is a unique time signature in that it can feel odd or even depending on the context. It can be divided evenly into three groups of three eighth notes, which would be counted ‘1 and a 2 and a 3 and a’ giving a triplet feel. The nine notes can also be divided unevenly for a variety of different feels, which is what we’ll explore in this lesson.
Example 1 demonstrates the triplet 3/4 feel with a Celtic folk influenced acoustic riff. This piece of music could also be written in 3/4 time with triplet figures over the notes, but 9/8 gives us the same information while looking cleaner on the page - 9/8 can also be referred to as compound triple time.
In Example 2 we hear that the 9/8 time signature can sound completely different by accenting different notes. Instead of accenting every three notes to create a triplet feel, we can accent every four notes to make a straight 4/4 feel. Of course 9 isn’t divisible by 4, so this is where the ‘odd time’ starts to sound ‘odd’.
In a bar of 9/8 we can count ‘1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and’, but we are one note short, so usually we simply add the eighth note like so: ‘1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5’. If you count those syllables evenly then you will be counting 9/8. This gives us something familiar, but with a twist, and is a device used a lot by progressive metal bands like Tool and Dream Theater. Tool’s track Jambi is a great example of 9/8 in action.
Example 3 is a rhythmic feel heard in traditional Balkan dance music and gives us a chance to practise counting in a different way again. This is counted ’one two, one two, one two, one two three’. By dividing the bar up into twos and threes, we can feel the accents more accurately. The nine eighth notes are split into four subgroups: 2 2 2 and 3 to complete the bar. You can think of this as three short notes and one long: ‘short short short long’ and so forth.
Using the same logic we can conceivably place the ‘long’ note anywhere in the bar (not just at the end). There are four possible variations of this: 3-2-2-2, 2-3-2-2, 2-2-3-2 and 2-2-2-3. Try clapping these rhythms to hear each possible version of 9/8. Our fourth example uses the 2-3-2-2 or ‘short long short short’ feel. This can can be heard in the Sting song I Hang My Head, and the aptly titled Apocalypse In 9/8 which is movement VI of the classic 1972 Genesis epic Supper’s Ready.
Our final example of 9/8 time signature is a short excerpt from the classical world with Paul Dukas’ 1897 piece The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a tune that entered the public consciousness in 1940 via Disney’s Fantasia. Originally played on the bassoon, this C
Eb- Ab- Harmonic Minor (C-D- F-G- B) melody is also a lot of fun to play on the guitar.
Practise each example slowly and be sure to count each one aloud as you play in order to totally master each feel.
NEXT MONTH Charlie looks at the super useful Paul Gilbert/Hendrix Dominant 7 trick