Groups of 4: most other popular styles, including rock, funk, jazz, blues, disco, etc
Accent pattern
HOT - po - ta - to HOT - po - ta - to
STRONG - weak - weak - weak STRONG - weak - weak - weak
(The third beat in a group of four generally receives an accent of its own.)
The meter of a piece of music is indicated at the beginning, just to the right
of the key signature, by a symbol called the time signature. This consists
of two numbers, one above the other. The top number indicates how many
beats there are in each measure, usually 4. The bottom number indicates
which note value receives one beat, almost always the quarter note, also
shown by the number 4. Thus, the most common time signature is 4/4,
which is the basic meter of rock, funk, blues, and even most jazz and
fusion. A time signature of 3/4 most commonly indicates a waltz, while 2/4
is found in some country music, some styles of Latin music, marches and
polkas.
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In theory, any number, such as 7, could be used as the upper number, and
any number representing a note value, such as 8 (for the eighth note),
could be used as the lower number. Time signatures of this type do occur
from time to time in more complex styles of music, but they are far less
common than those described above. The time signature of 4/4, in fact, is
so common that it is also known as common time, symbolised by the letter
‘C’ on the staff in place of the usual time signature.
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A related time signature, in which the 4/4 time signature is cut in half,
making it 2/2, is called cut time. This is symbolised by the letter ‘C’ with a
vertical line drawn through it.
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