It makes the chorus feel like a nice surprise that takes us somewhere new for its duration. The verse is written in 3/4, and the last measure of the verse introduces 4/4, which then gets carried through in the chorus that follows. Henry Jamison also released a neat track called " Gloria,” which includes some beautiful meter changes as you travel from section to section.
Tori Kelly and Ed Sheeran also recorded a beautiful song with varying time signatures called " I Was Made For Loving You." In their case, the verses are in 4/4, whereas the choruses sit in 7/4. These changes help the song move forward and allow each section to sound unique and interesting. Then we repeat the journey with another verse in 6/4 and return to the final choruses in 4/4. The 4/4 grounds the chorus emotionally, which works perfectly for the song. You can feel that shift happen and it reels you in. Let's take a look at how they are notated, so you can jump right into using them in your own songwriting!Ī great example of meter changes by section is Hozier's "Take Me To Church." The verses are written in 6/4, which then is changed to 4/4 in the choruses. Whether you're just getting started on your songwriting journey and looking to spice things up, or you're a time signature pro who's already proficient in writing songs in odd meters, subtle time signature changes can help you a lot. If you're Stravinsky, then this is a technique you use to create highly sophisticated rhythms. To create total chaosįinally, frequent and radical meter changes can create a lack of stability, or go as far as creating total rhythmic chaos, which may be exactly what your song needs. Imagine having a steady beat that suddenly gets broken and a new one is introduced instead? This change is one you would definitely feel, and your audience would be intrigued by it, which would pull them closer into your song. To instill an element of surpriseĪnother reason to use meter changes is the element of surprise. What if suddenly they heard it happen early? This early arrival is exactly what draws people in.
Your audience has come to expect that once you reach beat one in four beats, we'll hear the next phrase. Imagine you have a song written in 4/4 time, where you've established that each new phrase begins on beat one and lasts four bars. To create anticipationĪnticipation plays another role in why time signature changes are popular. Then, in the following measure, you could go back to your previous time signature, back to the comfortable groove.
This would give you two extra beats to say the words you need to say in a comfortable way ( song blocking can also help with that). You could extend the measure by changing the meter in that one bar, turning it from a 4/4 bar into a temporary 6/4 bar. Say you have a line of lyrics that just doesn't seem to fit right in your measure, no matter how fast you try to sing it.
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