Jacobs Ladder Time Signatures

[Craig Anderson]

In case this hasn't been mentioned already, ignore the drums. Alex
outlines the time signatures with his repeating lines. One measure of
6/8, one of 7/8 - as I recall it stays pretty much the same up to the
unison accents near the end of the song.

Actually, I've always counted the main body of the song (the part with lyrics)
mostly in 4/4. If you listen to the timing of the vocals (The clouds prepare
for battle in the dark and brooding silence. Bruised and sullen storm clouds
have the light of day obscured . . .), it's in 4/4 with Alex accenting
different beats in the measure. However, I guess he could be playing in "13/8"
against Neil's and Ged's 4/4. I've seen that done in classical music quite a
bit. Accoring to the sheet music I have (Rush: Complete Vol. I) for the song,
most of it's in 4/4, though. Just a thought.
Rook
p.s. My roommate and I share this account, and he hates NG mail. Replies are
welcome, but please send them directly to this group. Thanks in advance.

Guys, it's an 11/4, then a 21/4, then a 13/8. I'd have to count out each measure to see if they drop a beat from time to time throwing in a 4/4 0r 6/8 every once in a while. It's definitely a wonderful tapestry of time signatures, but it's not uncountable.

[Joe "The Diaperizah" Mahoney]

Have any of you figured out all of the time signatures in Jacobs Ladder? I
came up with so many I figure I've got to be counting them wrong.

That one's so tough to figure out I just count it as one long 347 beat
measure. No such thing as being off beat then :-) Seriously, I figured
it out years ago to learn how to play it and I've since forgotten. It
starts out alternating between measures of 5 and 6 beats, then it
changes and changes and changes... I don't remember. My guess is you're
probably not counting them wrong. (how's that for a cop out?)
Jason

To make it even more difficult, Neil plays odd meters across the
odd time signatures. What I mean by this is that he kinda groups two
or more measures together that have different time signatures and
then plays across them as if they were one unit. Know what I mean??
Allen

He does it for several measures during a verse of 'Superconductor', but
to give an example of what he does in JL would take more time than I
have. It's basically mathematics: Take 3 bars of 4/4 and you have 12
beats. Play this as if it was 3/4 and you meet up with Alex + Geddy
(who play in 4/4) 12 beats later but in an unsynchronous sort of way.
Do it right and it sounds cool. Wrong and your band looks foolish
around beat 10.
Rush do this kind of thing quite a bit but they don't necessarily stick
to 4/4, which makes it way complicated at times.
Debora the Drum Rat, who can make it through Jacob's Ladder, but only on
a good day.

There are tons of time changes in it. The intro, however, is alternating bars of 5/4 and 6/5. Played beautifully, of course.