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The higher we opt for odd time signatures, the rarer they become, but, although uncommon, 17/8 time is still used to excellent effect in lots of pieces of music.
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel's Patreon saints!.
This video was modified by David Hartley. Take a look at his YouTube channel here:.
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0:00 Intro.
0:10 Yes.
0:49 Björk.
1:55 The National.
2:38 Dream Theater.
3:45 17/8 vs. 17/4.
4:24 Pianote.
5:22 17/4 time.
6:39 Grammy award winning time signature.
7:32 Piano outro.
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Great video as always! Keep up the great work!
Thanks again!
I’d love to see David analyze TTNG’s music. Is 26 really dancier than 4? 🤣
Stay tuned! 😎
Love seeing some Dream Theater on here, you should maybe include some Haken stuff they always play with cool time signatures.
Open Car by Porcupine Tree is also in 17/8 but it can be thought of as 5+5+5+2. Another song of theirs from the same album called Halo has a middle-eight also in 17/8, at least I think so when I can keep count- definitely sounds like a rhythmic illusion.
Now that I think of it, David doesn’t feature Porcupine Tree on this channel very often, does he?
I think the illusion is from Gavin Harrison’s overriding technique
The Halo section is indeed in 17/8. Focus solely on the guitar riff, and you’ll hear the pattern is a quick 5+5+7
Thanks for including Trevor Rabin era Yes. Check out Endless Dream for the proggiest song he ever composed with them.
So, not only is Alien in 17/8 but it the riff also looks to be in E locrian. Fascinating. Reminds me a bit of At Doom’s Gate or the track from E1M1 from the 1993 Doom game. Although that one is in 4/4 but also is arguably in E locrian.
At Doom’s Gate is in several locrian keys… it gets around the problem of the locrian half diminished root chord by just modulating instead. Because if you try for a chord sequence following a half diminished, most chords will feel like a resolution and potentially steal the key. And yeah, eventually locrian becomes too tame (from the repetition) and things get crunchier and more free form than a specific mode.
The song 17 by House of Waters surprisingly is in 17/8 time signature 😊
i’ve loved the alien since i heard it live on their tour of the album but i’ve never really noticed the feel of it
Loving this series. As for songs in 17, Do Not Look Down by Meshuggah is a great 17/16 riff over a 4/4 pulse, and has an amazing groove to it, just sounds like a weird 4/4.
Came here looking for this. I feel that for any odd time signature you choose, you could find an example from Meshuggah.
I really hope a new serie on mixed time signatures after this one 🙂
Of course Meshuggah comes to mind, but I also love the intro of Rush’s Jacob’s Ladder for example
https://youtu.be/oyhS0PO3_bI
This is a song I wrote, where every measure is a different time signature from the previous one.
The chorus is in 7/8, then 11/16, then 15/16, then 3/4.
Hope you theory lovers enjoy it!
I’ve come back to once again suggest a video about particularly long songs and their composition, like for example Pink Floyd’s ”Echoes”, ”Dogs” and ”Atom Heart Mother”, or Yes’ ”Close to the Edge”.
Echoes, for example, has like 3 different genres in it (Rock, funk, ambient), and multiple time signatures 4/4 and 12/8. Perhaps alternately, it could be a video about songs that include multiple genres? (even though yes, I’m aware that in progressive rock, like Echoes is, any genre in it is still progressive rock, but still.)
i wonder if this series is ever gonna end, or is he just going to keep finding increasingly weird time signatures for all eternity. tbh that would be pretty cool
I love David’s own compositions at the end of each video. This one is particularly beautiful. Thank you David.
An interesting example of 17/8 (or 17/16) can be found in the first section of “Il vitello dei piedi di balsa” by the Italian rock band Elio e le storie tese, quite a peculiar take imo
You have one of the best channels on YouTube. Really love your content.
Yeah! Very informative. I just recently composed a piece in 17/8 for piano after deeply emersing myself into Nate Smiths Skip Step which is also in 17/8. Both his and mine tune feel more like a 4/4 bar followed by a 3/4 bar followed by a 3/8 bar.
Pat Methen Group’s 5-5-7 consists of phrases in 17/4 divided into two bars of 5/4 and a bar of 7/4
The 17/4 in Erasure’s Always is specifically made to connect the loops of the chorus seamlessly as if it never finished but just kept rolling back to the start, right? As such I’d almost like to think of it with the split that leaves it looking like it was short of 18/4.
I’d love an analysis on Symphony X’s Fallen’s piano part in the intro. The changing pattern really tries to escape me when I think I got it and it changes, and I think it changes to even meter when the guitar comes along making it further confusing.
My band has a song with the first verse being in 17/8! It’s called Décimo by Sapo Rey, if yall want to check it out.
There are a lot of odd time signatures in there too