# Western rhythm: Marching through your undeveloped country soon!



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I think the "oddest" thing about Western rhythm is that we don't have any. Our time signature system reflects this deficiency: we can't specify a beat divided into three parts using a standard time signature which reflects this beat accurately.

In a blues shuffle or jazz rhythm, the beat is 1-2-3-4, usually played by the "walking" bass. Each beat is divided into three, leaving one out, which gives the "shuffle" feel: 1 -3/2 -3/3 -3/4 -3.

For Western notation, this must be notated as "4/4-shuffle feel" which is vague and imprecise, or notated as a compound: 12/8, counted ONE-2-3, FOUR-5-6, SEVEN-8-9, TEN-11-12. Who counts a 4/4 like that?

That's because our bottom number, the note value, can only be divisions of two. That's because we are a "marching music" military mentality, unlike Africans, who use divisions-of-three and compound rhythms (divisible by 2 and 3) all the time, for their "double meaning" of 2 or 3, which they "play" with, while we scratch our heads and march into their country to enslave them. Historically speaking, that is...


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