My math teacher is giving us extra credit if we can find the time signatures for Vicarious. I do believe he plays the bass.

Does anyone know where I can find them? Or possibly could someone post them here? Thanks.

Your math teacher listens to Tool? Man...i went to the wrong school!

A.

4/4, 5/4 and 6/4 are the time signatures used in the song, I think.

Everything is in 5/4 except the chorus, which is in 6/4. No 4/4.

Listen to 5th eye.

?????

It goes from 9/8, 8/8, to 7/8. Yep.

Thanks again.

coulda sworn there was a bar or two in 4/4. perhaps im wrong.

I found a good site that has this song.

http://www.bassmasta.net/t/tool/155472.html

I don't recall where, but the article I read stated that Vicarious was in 10/4. I'm almost positive Adam Jones was the one who said it. I remember trying to follow it once, and seem to remember that the whole song was indeed in 10/4.

Despite the information I remember reading, Wikipedia seems to think Vicarious is in 5/4 or 5/8. Information found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ime_signatures

Nice list and with plenty of Tool song time signatures listed there.

Chad

Who gives a fuck what the time signatures are? Just listen to the song and repeat what happens, fuck time signatures.

10/4 is just two bars of 5/4.

Again, I'm repeating the real deal, it's 5/4 and chorus 6/4. Nothing else.

Yeah, guess what?

I wrote that tab.

edit: THAT ASSHOLE STOLE IT

The 10/4 element, it is, in fact, simply two bars of 5/4, however, the phrasing of the rhythm arpeggios (as in the intro to the song) is 1,2,3 - 1,2,3 - 1,2,3,4 - ergo, 10/4 - very similar to the phrasing in the beginning of The Patient, which is also in 5/4 or 10/4, respectively.

It simply depends on what BPM you're making the count. In the cut time of the arpeggio it is 10 counts, whereas if you take the standard time signature framework, it is 5/4.

Again, this is identical to the pattern laid out in The Patient.

Actually, during the chorus-proper, there are a total of 56 beats, 28 per phrase followed by the end of the chorus ('you all need it too, don't lie') which lasts for 12 beats - broken down further this would indicate that the chorus is actually in 7/4, although the phrasing is not indicative of this. However, the numbers do not lie:

Two sets of "1,2,3-1,2,3-1,2,3-1,2,3-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8" and then a final set of "1,2,3-1,2,3-1,2,3-1,2,3" is the beat by beat phrasing from the beginning of the chorus. It is only in 6/4 at the very last phrase.

Just like many times a riff will be written with phrasing such as 1,2,3-1,2,3-1,2 for a total of 8 beats. It is not two measures of 3/4 time and then one measure of 2/4 - it's just 8/4 and phrased differently. Such is also the case with this song; it's not 4 measures of 6/4 and then two measures of 8/4 - the entire thing holds the count of 7/4 in cut time except at the last line of the chorus in which it turns into 3/4 (or 6/4, depending on how you count it) for 4 measures (or 2, again depending on the count) before going back into the standard 5/4-10/4 count. The phrasing is simply what's making it appear to be in 6/4.

In summation, the chorus phrasing is:

6 beats, 6 beats, 8 beats, 8 beats (28) - first chorus pass "I need to watch things..."
6 beats, 6 beats, 8 beats, 8 beats (28) - second chorus pass "Vicariously I live while..."
6 beats, 6 beats (12) - last line of chorus leading to main 5/4 riff "You all need it, too..."

Sorry, 6/4 the entire chorus is not.

Now, someone show me that I'm wrong.

Well, you could say, since you're splitting up the chorus into quavers, that technically the chorus is 6 beats, 6 beats, 7 beats, 9 beats! :P Quaver phrasing wise, that's it's, and you're right, that's 28 beats. If I had to answer some random maths question on this, I wouldnt say it was in 6/4 or 7/4, I'd say it was a composite of 28 beats, technically quaver phrasing showing 6-6-7-9!

I liked your reason for editing the post.

Don't you mean 10/8?

10/8 is 5/4 dude, depending on how quickly you're counting, and 10/4 is just the same as counting 2 bars of 5/4 as a whole ;)

Yes, I'm not a noob.

What he was describing (1,2,3 - 1,2,3 - 1,2,3,4 ) sounded like 10/8 to me. ;)

Well, 10/4 means 10 beats per measure and every quarter note gets one beat. So, depending on how it is written on sheet music, it could be 10/8, yes. Or, if it is not written in cut time then 10/4 would be appropriate.

I guess it's whether you're playing to a 120 bpm click or a 240.

Wow... that site, bassmasta.net or whatever? Those users suck. They stole at least 2 tabs from me. I hate people.

Don't know why people bother with internet tabs, they're almost always inaccurate, and your tab of Vicarious is no exception :(. Missing slides in the intro and a couple of wrong sections and some general inaccuracies.

How long have you been playing bass or other instruments for? Some of the things in the tab seem to be written from someone with little experience of natural speed around the bass and inexperience in developing their music ear. There are a few things like blatent double hammer on scale runs, for example 0-2-3 that you've written as 0-0-3. When people develop their musical ear it's amazing how quickly tabs become completely irrelevent.

The point of a tab it for those who are learning the instrument to use it to become better at whatever they're playing. When you are good enough to hear the notes of the song yourself, then obviously, why use a tab? Your post was pointless IMO...

People learning the instrument should develop their own musical ear, not play along to incorrect tabs.

^ Hear hear

If you're going to learn to play an instrument - then learn to play an instrument.

I posted this in May, but the thread's gone now.

"00:00 to 1:33 - 10/8
1:33 to 1:40 - 12/8 (accented as 10+2/8 followed by 2+3+3+4/8)
1:40 to 2:15 - 10/8
2:15 to 2:19 - 12/8
2:19 to 2:21 - 10/8
2:21 to 2:35 - 12/8 7/8 9/8
2:35 to 2:39 - 12/8
2:39 to 3:08 - 10/8
3:08 to 3:25 - 12/8 7/8 9/8
3:25 to 6:27 - 10/8 (much easier to feel as 5/4)
6:27 to 6:50 - 12/8
6:50 to 6:57 - 10/8
6:57 to 7:09 - 4/8 (the switch from 10/8 to 4/8 is in the middle of a measure so you could place the change at a few different places depending on preference)

I think I got them all.

damn!

you can make any time signiture fit almost. it all depends on how you count it.

6/8 can be a slow 2/4

a fast 4/4 can be a one

it all depends on how you count the measures.

i like the think on 5/4 and 6/4

but 10/4...counting it like that is just adam being lazy

Well, the arpeggios in the intro are clearly phrased 1,2,3 1,2,3 1,2,3,4 - which would put it as ten beat phrasing in an otherwise 5/4 time signature. Ergo, 10/8

lol.

Many people need to look up such wonderful musical terms as: whole-notes, half-notes, quarter-notes, eighth-notes, sixteenth-notes and down the line, double time, cut time, odd meters and signatures, music theory, etc. I don't think some understand these basic concepts of composition fully and are just blurting out with how it makes sense to them, and that's ok I guess, but it's just confusing; Blanketeffect seems to have a grasp on it.

Some things are only as complicated as you make them.

Holy fuck, I can't believe you guys. Call it 5/4 or 10/8, call the chorus 6/4 or 12/8, and call the outro 4/4 or 8/8. That's the song. There's an odd measure or two thrown in here and there, but to call the chorus 7/4 or say "There are only two time signatures: 5/4 and 6/4" . . . that's just plain stupid. I come into this thread hoping for some interesting musical discussion between people who know their asshole from their earhole, but instead it's just like a bunch of retards trying to fuck a doorknob.

You said it!!!!

^^ You're probably dissing me in there somewhere, too. Word.

Not at all. You tried to explain the difference between 10 and 5; it's just that no one can understand you in here.

EDIT: Oh, wait. Are you the nut who suggested it was in sev -- you are? Oh, that's a shame. Still, you're cool. I guess.

Take it from a music undergrad. The MAIN groove is in 5/4 (5/8 if you want to make things complicated). the first time change is just before maynard says "it's no fun till someone dies", and it is four measures of 3/4 before going back into 5. After this, it is all in 5/4, except when "I need to watch things die" when they go into 3/8 (12/8, whatever, but it's subdivided into 3, 8th note=8th note in transition). Notice the correlation between the idea of loving death and the number 3 in this song.

Notice the correlation between the outro is in 4.