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I was watching The Big Band Theory, and the word waltz came up.

Then they stated a waltz is 3/4, and I had to google to believe this. I would have expected a walz to be 3/3.
I can't really dance but was once told how to do a walz, and count 1,2,3.
That how, I was expecting it to be 3/3 LOL.

So my next new song will be a walz, because I think this is gonna help me understand this stuff better.

One question though, is there always a 4 below that stripe ? as in X/4 ? Were X can be 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on ?

Gps wrote:I was watching The Big Band Theory, and the word waltz came up.

Then they stated a waltz is 3/4, and I had to google to believe this. I would have expected a walz to be 3/3.
I can't really dance but was once told how to do a walz, and count 1,2,3.
That how, I was expecting it to be 3/3 LOL.

So my next new song will be a walz, because I think this is gonna help me understand this stuff better.

One question though, is there always a 4 below that stripe ? as in X/4 ? Were X can be 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on ?

Here is a example of 3/4 time.
https://soundcloud.com/eino1953/death-waltz-cover

The vertical lines on the staff mark the measures. Measures are used to divide and organize music. The time signature determines how many beats can be in a measure. The thick double bars mark the beginning and ends of a piece of music. Measures are sometimes marked with numbers to make navigating a piece easier. The first measure would be measure one, the second measure two and so on.
The time signatures (also called meter signatures) tell the musician how many beats per measure there are, and what kind of note gets the beat.
The top number determines how many beats there are per measure. The bottom number tells what kind of note gets the beat. In this example, 4/4 time, there are 4 beats per measure, and the quarter note (bottom 4) gets the beat. In 3/4 time, the quarter note would still get the beat, but there would only be 3 beats in a measure. In 6/8 time, the eigth note gets the beat, and there are 6 beats to a measure..

I hope, I'am not confusing you.

Gps wrote:I was watching The Big Band Theory, and the word waltz came up.

Then they stated a waltz is 3/4, and I had to google to believe this. I would have expected a walz to be 3/3.
I can't really dance but was once told how to do a walz, and count 1,2,3.
That how, I was expecting it to be 3/3 LOL.

That's what I meant earlier when I said 4/4 means 4 quarter notes per bar (or measure) and 5/4 is 5 quarter notes per bar. The top number tells you how many notes per bar and the bottom number tells you what sort of length notes they are.

The only note lengths we normally use are half, quarter, eighth and very rarely 16th. So the bottom number of the time signature is only going to be 2, 4, 8 or just possibly 16. It can NEVER be an odd number because we don't have note lengths of 1/3rd or 1/7th etc.

Steve

Eino wrote:

Gps wrote:I was watching The Big Band Theory, and the word waltz came up.

Then they stated a waltz is 3/4, and I had to google to believe this. I would have expected a walz to be 3/3.
I can't really dance but was once told how to do a walz, and count 1,2,3.
That how, I was expecting it to be 3/3 LOL.

So my next new song will be a walz, because I think this is gonna help me understand this stuff better.

One question though, is there always a 4 below that stripe ? as in X/4 ? Were X can be 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on ?

Here is a example of 3/4 time.
https://soundcloud.com/eino1953/death-waltz-cover

The vertical lines on the staff mark the measures. Measures are used to divide and organize music. The time signature determines how many beats can be in a measure. The thick double bars mark the beginning and ends of a piece of music. Measures are sometimes marked with numbers to make navigating a piece easier. The first measure would be measure one, the second measure two and so on.
The time signatures (also called meter signatures) tell the musician how many beats per measure there are, and what kind of note gets the beat.
The top number determines how many beats there are per measure. The bottom number tells what kind of note gets the beat. In this example, 4/4 time, there are 4 beats per measure, and the quarter note (bottom 4) gets the beat. In 3/4 time, the quarter note would still get the beat, but there would only be 3 beats in a measure. In 6/8 time, the eigth note gets the beat, and there are 6 beats to a measure..

I hope, I'am not confusing you.

You are not confusing me, you're explanations are much better then most or maybe all webpages I have read.
The problem somewhat is the technician in me LOL. Reading 6/8 the first thing that comes to my mind, 6/8 = 3/4
I do this automaticly,
Its something I need to unlearn myself, when making / reading music.
On the other hand, understanding this did help me too with lmms.
In lmms is does not matter much if you pick 80 or 160 bpm or 120 or 240 bpm.

I hope not to confuse others reading this, you should always try to use the right bpm.

I just got home, but before I left, I had read yours, and steve's answer.
I have been, in my head repeating this over and over. The bottom number tells us which note gets the beat. The top number is the number of beats in the measure.

One two three, one two three.

The Waltz I have in mind ( I had to use google and click a lot to find it, because I did not know how it was called)
Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTYymbbEL4

To quote Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear, how hard can it be ?
I am not planing on making an exact cover, I doubt I could, even if I tried, and while listening to it, I am already getting into trouble, when trying to count along. On some parts, I get totally lost. LOL

And the worst part, I have stated, not liking classical music, but this waltz I do like.
Will be interesting to try, and see how far I can get.

slipstick wrote:

Gps wrote:I was watching The Big Band Theory, and the word waltz came up.

Then they stated a waltz is 3/4, and I had to google to believe this. I would have expected a walz to be 3/3.
I can't really dance but was once told how to do a walz, and count 1,2,3.
That how, I was expecting it to be 3/3 LOL.

That's what I meant earlier when I said 4/4 means 4 quarter notes per bar (or measure) and 5/4 is 5 quarter notes per bar. The top number tells you how many notes per bar and the bottom number tells you what sort of length notes they are.

The only note lengths we normally use are half, quarter, eighth and very rarely 16th. So the bottom number of the time signature is only going to be 2, 4, 8 or just possibly 16. It can NEVER be an odd number because we don't have note lengths of 1/3rd or 1/7th etc.

Steve

I realize I am repeating myself, but I have been practicing this all morning in my head.

First thing to do, lets see if I can find a fitting bpm,for a waltz.
Using that bpm tool, I think it should not be that hard, although that sneaky Johan Strauss did not write this waltz with a constant speed.

Oh dear, I find 180 bpm.

Ah well lets try and see how it goes.

Do I understand things right, if I say I cant use the beat and bassline editor?

Actually my example of 3/4 timing was not a good one, I started out with a 3/4 time signature then it jumps to a 6/8 then a 4/4 then back to 6/8.
Reason I stopped teaching, I forget the simplest of things.
Through away the mathematical ruler, music is measured differently. lol
In 6/8 time, the eighth note gets the beat, and there are 6 beats to a measure.
All notes have length. However, the number of beats are depended on is with the time signature.