Differences between common and 4/4 time signature

[monchauveau]

I am a little confused about the differences between common time signature and 4/4 time signature. I thought it was the same thing. I´ve downloaded Don´t Stop Believin and Rocket Man. When you listen to the metronome Don´t stop Believin (4/4 time) has 4 beats with each measure whilst Rocket Man (Common time) has 2 beats to each measure. I am having trouble with the counting with Rocket Man as I am wanting to count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & but the metronome is really only allowing a count of 1 & 2 &. I´m probably missing something really basic here but some clarification would be very much appreciated.

[draco2023a]

Common time is 4/4...you are correct, they are the same thing

[monchauveau]

That´s what I thought. Then why in the Intermediate Easy version of Rocket Man is each measure counted in 2 beats rather than 4 beats (when you listen to the metronome)?

[thomas1018]

Rocket Man Intermediate is not in common time. It is noted in cut-common time (the c with a slash). The half note gets the beat. The reason we did this was to make the music easier to read. If we didn't do that, then there would be 16th notes. We do not use 16th notes at the Intermediate level. Some of our more recent Intermediate songs were arranged this way. We will have new Intermediate Bootcamp lessons addressing this issue in the future. so stay tuned!

Thomas

[drummerJ99]

Rocket Man Intermediate is not in common time. It is noted in cut-common time (the c with a slash). The half note gets the beat. The reason we did this was to make the music easier to read. If we didn't do that, then there would be 16th notes. We do not use 16th notes at the Intermediate level. Some of our more recent Intermediate songs were arranged this way. We will have new Intermediate Bootcamp lessons addressing this issue in the future. so stay tuned!

Thomas

Would it be possible for the future to maybe maybe make a note area on the store about what time signature a song is in, if a song is missing parts (ie "100 Years" rookie) or maybe any other edits that have been done? To me 16th notes would be much easier to read then cut-common time. But maybe that's because I also play drums so I'm used to 16th notes.

[thomas1018]

Actually it is easy to recognize the time signature in the store. When you click on a song in the store, you are directed to a song's preview page. On the left side there is a PDF score preview. The time signature is clearly displayed on the page.

As far as other information, like labeling songs with shortened arrangements, this is something we could explore in the future. We have plans to revamp the store design as our library grows.