Opeth and TIME SIGNATURES

[Orelans]

Do any of you music theory enthusiats and Opeth fans know if Opeth utilize any odd time signatures? or at least any other than common time...

if you can, please post the part of the song and what time signature it is in...


also check out my time signature thread in the Musicians Discussion section

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=65637

 

[ControlledChaos]

i think theres some in Funeral Portrait (can't remember, don't wanna get the cd) and serenity painted death...just a few omitted beats etc. Nothing too amazing, but it musically does the trick.

 

[Heliologue]

i don't think they ever delve into perfect time (x/8), but they do have some alternating stuff.


for instance, the instrumental break between the growly parts of "drapery falls" uses 3 bars of 5/4 followed by a bar of 6/4.

there's a part in april ethereal, too, where it's either 3 x 4/4 + 3/4 or vice versa, i can't remember offhand.

 

[Hondo]

They use a lot of 3/4 and 4/4, pretty standard times. Now and then there's a weird part. I can't think of any on Orchid or Morningrise. Or MAYH, but I think there might be something weird there anyway. I also think there's a part in 7/something in SPD. The only one I can say for sure on BWP is the scary part in Drapery Falls. That's like some weird polyrhythm going into a 5/4 and 6/4 section. The only part on Deliverance that I can say for sure is a 5/8 part on Master's Apprentices, somewhere between the long beginning and the happy parts. By The Pain I See In Others has something weird around 1:00, but I honestly can't say what it is.

They use a bit of syncopation and dropped notes and oddly played parts to make things sound weird, but really, even crazy songs like The Leper Affinity and Deliverance are all in pretty regular time signatures.

I'm no expert though, some of that could be off.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

The leper affinity has that fucking brutal off syncopated part near the end. Damn good beat!

 

[Hondo]

That one with the hi-hat action? That's my favorite part.

 

[Mayh]

could someone explain what syncopated is?

 

[Lakestream]

when a beat/note is "connected" to another beat/note, so they actually are one..... eh..... that was a bad explanation, I know

 

[ControlledChaos]

nah...nice try though lakestream

Syncopation is a long note/accent on a weak beat.

in 4/4, 1 and 3 are basically your strong beats, a long note on 2, 4, or anywhere in between is a syncopation. In 3/4 time, 1 is your strong beat, so, for instance, a half note on 2 or 3 is a syncopation. get it?

 

[Mayh]

Hmmm, can you name some examples?

 

[Aborted Fetus]

The intro riff to Deliverance is in 7/8 (i.e. three quarter notes followed by an 8th).

They really like to do 4/4 by using 4 dotted eighths + 2 regular eighths.

Also, they use 12/8 quite a bit, which is "similar" in feel to 4/4 with 8th note triplets in place of each quarter note. Basically it sounds like four sets of "123" in each bar. Here's kind of how it looks:

(1)23 (2)23 (3)23 (4)23 | (1)23 (2)23 (3)23 (4)23, etc. etc.

I'll post the others (that haven't been mentioned) when I think of them.

 

[Hondo]

I thought Deliverance was some kind of 7 beat rhythm but the more I listened, the more it just sounded normal but played a little off time. I guess that means most of the beginning of the song is then, since the following parts have a similar beat.

 

[fleshhead]

The beginning of Deliverance is in 7/8; so is the whole section after the first verse.

Myself, I like the extra two bars in the final riff of A Fair Judgement.

- d

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Originally posted by Hondo
That one with the hi-hat action? That's my favorite part.

Thats the one. It rules ehhhh?

 

[Orelans]

Does When ever go into 12/8?

I read a tab on the darkwoods Opeth site that claimed a 12/8 time sig near the beginning... the first hevay riff, if i recall correctly... I don't know; I rarely trust those tabs...