OriginallyPosted by: robbdobbcobbcan someone please tell me what the difference is between a 4/4 and a 4/8 time signature? You've got the idea. They both require "a four count", but in 4/4 the quarter notes get a whole beat or count and in 4/8 the eighth notes get a whole beat or count. A subtle difference to be sure. Thisvideo explores and explains the meaning of 'irregular' (or as they are sometimes called: uneven or asymmetrical) through the quintuple time signatures o Otherthan that, off the top of my head, I think her songs are mostly 3/4, 6/8, 4/4 (or 12/8), 2/4, or 2/2. 9. SnarkOff. • 3 yr. ago. Peace is 2/4 - it has 16th notes on the background to mark it. That said, she’s definitely been more experimental with time signatures - layering thirds on top of the beat, holding some forth beats slightly Themost common simple time signatures you will see are 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, although any time signature with a 2, 3, or 4 as the top number is classified as simple. In order to truly understand simple time signatures, you must understand what the numbers represent. The top number determines how many beats are in a measure, while the Compoundtriple time always has the number 9 at the top of the time signature. Examples include 9/8, 9/2, 9/16 and 9/4. Compound Quadruple Meter. Compound quadruple meter means that there are 4 beats in a bar (triple) and these can be divided into threes (compound). Compound quadruple time always has the number 12 at the top of the time Its important to note that 5/4 with accents on the 1 and 4 feels just like 3 + 2 (ala Take 5) and 6/8 generally feels like 2/4 with triplets instead of 1/4 notes (like House of the Rising Sun). But if you listen to anything that really f&*ks with time signatures, these rules will fall apart quickly. Listen to Schism by Tool, for instance. Thedifference between 4/4 and 4/2 is entirely notational--4/4 at quarter note = 120 will sound identical to 4/2 at half note = 120. They do give many players different feelings and could cause often-subconscious slight differences in performance, but those are "soft" differences that are hard to tabulate. Functionally they are the same. Obviously5/8 doesn't translate into a /4 time signature and this way it's easier for the players as they continue to count in quavers instead of trying to switch between /4 and /8 time. On the other hand, if I was switching between /4 times and I wanted a measure with three beats then I'd use 3/4. Anytime signature with a top number of 6, 9, 12, 15, and so on according to the multiples of 3 is a compound time signature. However, 3/4 and 3/8 aren’t compound time signatures because the top number is 3 (they’re simple time signatures). The most common compound time signatures are 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8. Each beat is divided into 68 time signature is a compounded time signature similar to the 3/4 time signature. 3/8 time signature is when instead of quarter notes you use eighth notes instead. [deleted] Unlike 3/8, 6/8 has two downbeats per measure (the second one being a little weaker). gravescd. 3/8 is typically one beat per measure, 6 is two. k60U.