What is the Bpm?

[sulphent]

Hi there, i'm mainly a guitarist but i've been playing Piano (Keyboard) for 8 or so years now also. In the last 6 months however i've been learning music properly (theory mainly) rather than playing all the songs in C major.

Anyway, my question is the following:

I'm transcribing a song from an mp3 i have, however when you hear the mp3 you can't hear a definite beat to tap along to, so of course i'm not sure if i have bpm right and  therefore also the note durations. Are there any specific techniques to getting the correct bpm, or is it mainly guess work?

Another question i have which is along the same lines it. How can i tell what time signature a song is in?

Thanks 

[celticqt]

Another question i have which is along the same lines it. How can i tell what time signature a song is in?

Well, you should be able to feel where the strong beats are - if there is one strong beat followed by two weak ones, it's in 3/4; one strong beat followed by three weaker ones means 4/4; one strong beat and one weak beat equals 2/4, 2/2, or maybe 6/8.  Not quite sure what you mean by the bpm thing - figuring out the time signature would probably help with this also.  But don't worry, there are a lot of Really Smart People on this forum....someone will jump in to elucidate!  

[dkaplowitz]

What's the song?

Like celticqt mentioned, you need to figure out the time signature of the song/passage before you figure out the tempo, unless it's completely rubato and free form.

Figuring out time signatures can be tricky depending on how they're played. I've gotten pretty good at it, but I listen to and play tons of stuff in odd times, so counting out shifting time sigs has gotten a little easier. Basically it's a matter of listening to everything that's going on. In the case of a band of some type, listen to what the bassist is doing, listen to what the drummer's doing, etc. listen for repeating phrases or groupings in the music. Try to count a pulse over the course of a complete phrase. If you lock into something, keep listening to see if it repeats, etc.

Good luck!

Dave

[sulphent]

Thanks, for both or your help, i'll have the try it out.

The song, in my opinion does seem very relaxed and it's all played in strings. I've uploaded the mp3 so you can understand my question a little better. It's from a computer game.

Click here to watch chocolate-outline

[dkaplowitz]

It's straight 4/4 @ 80BPM throughout.

[sulphent]

Ah looks like i got it right , I thought it was 4/4 at 80, but i couldn't help thinking i might be wrong. Thanks for the clarification.

[stephane]

Something I find usefull finding out the BPM is a digital metronome. Some of them allow you to tap the tempo. Meaning that instead of entering the number of beats you push the button twice in the given tempo, the ritme of the music. The metronome then starts to beep at the correct ritme and gives you the BPM.

Best regards,

Stephane