Meter and meter changes

[malictus]

When I first listened to Jambi, it sounded like there was quite a bit of metric shifting going on all over the place. But upon listening a bit closer, I discovered that it's remarkably constant with very few shifts:

9/8 - First part of song
6/4 - Guitar solo
9/4 - "Benevolent sun/son" section
9/8 - End of song

So why does it sound so interesting rhythmically? Because the 9 beats are divided up so many different ways. There's 3+3+3, of course, but also 2+2+2+3 and 3+2+2+2, and even 1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5 in some places. And of course, sometimes you get more than one of these going on at once. I'd elaborate if I wasn't so lazy...

Anyway, all in all it's a very satisfying song, musically speaking...

[March The Scaffold]

They also do some nasty layering of time sigs throughout the song.

[StereoScopicLenses]

Agreed. Very Meshuggah-like. Especially the rhythm of the string instruments.

[swampyfool]

When I first listened to Jambi, it sounded like there was quite a bit of metric shifting going on all over the place. But upon listening a bit closer, I discovered that it's remarkably constant with very few shifts:

9/8 - First part of song
6/4 - Guitar solo
9/4 - "Benevolent sun/son" section
9/8 - End of song

So why does it sound so interesting rhythmically? Because the 9 beats are divided up so many different ways. There's 3+3+3, of course, but also 2+2+2+3 and 3+2+2+2, and even 1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5 in some places. And of course, sometimes you get more than one of these going on at once. I'd elaborate if I wasn't so lazy...

Anyway, all in all it's a very satisfying song, musically speaking...

I agree that this is awesome, but I was wondering how you differentiated between the 9/8 and the 9/4. Also, wouldn't the division of 4x1.5 imply an additional 12/8 time signature somewhere in there? I think that all this time signature play is turning some people off and I can't imagine why; it's freakin' awesome. I actually saw somebody post that any song on this album could qualify as the worst Tool song in three albums. I just can't see that with all the time signature play employed here.

[malictus]

The 9/4 part is only half as fast as the 9/8 section, but it's clearly 9/4 and not just two bars of 9/8 I think....

As for the 1.5 x 4, that was a misprint; I actually meant 1.5 * 6. My bad...

[swampyfool]

Right on, thanks.

[jonhebert]

I let my girlfriend listen to Jambi (she's a very well trained musician). I told her to listen and try to figure out the beat. After about 200 listens, I am just starting to "get" some of the beats, but she was just perplexed and amazed. The first time I heard it, i was blown away. It was a feeling of, "Oh, f**k, I've got to figure out how to nod my head to this??" mixed with utter respect, because I knew that once I got it, or they got into it, it would just blow me away. Nicely done.

Speaking of offtimes, there's still a drumpart in 46+2, during Danny's drum solo, that I still can't play airdrums to!

[Jimmeny]

If you can nod your head naturally to it 9 times, it's 9/4, if you nod your head and lose a beat, or have to nod your head like a maniac, it's 9/8.

[swampyfool]

Speaking of offtimes, there's still a drumpart in 46+2, during Danny's drum solo, that I still can't play airdrums to!

Yeah, you and the rest of the non-Danny world.

[malictus]

A bit more info about how the different '9 patterns' work in the intro section...

The intro starts out with a strong 3+2+2+2 riff in the guitar. Then the full band comes in playing the same rhythm. This part is pretty easy to hear, since Danny's pounding away on those accented beats.

Then the guitar part changes to the main riff of the song. It's a little ambiguous, but I hear it as 2+2+2+3. But, notice how the bass drum comes in playing on every third beat, 3+3+3, overlapping with the other pattern.

Neat.

[Thejoelsvolta]

in 9/8 an eighth not gets one beat and in 9/4 a quarternote gets one beat