Follow-up to The “Count Off” – Counting a Tune In

I seem to have made an assumption in my prior post when talking about how to count off a tune or how to count in a tune. My apologies.

I described how to click your sticks together while counting so that the band can start together. I failed to mention that this count off is for tunes in a 4/4 time signature. This is also referred to as “Common Time.” It’s so common, that perhaps that’s why I didn’t think about it before posting. Most tunes are in this time – “in four.” There are, of course, other time signatures which need to be addressed, not only from a playing perspective but also from the perspective of the count off.

2/2, 2/4, 3/4 and 12/8 come to mind immediately as other time signatures that musicians need to be able to play and feel. If you don’t understand time signatures and/or don’t read music – that’s OK right now. Suffice it to say that the top and bottom numbers represent two different things. For our count off, we are concerned with the top number only.

I will delve deeper into this issue at a later time. Once again, my apologies for not being clear in my prior post.