Complex Meter

Complex Meter is a less common meter that combines characteristics of both simple and compound meters. The most common complex meters have 5, 7 or 8 as the top number and either 4 or 8 as the bottom.

What makes complex meter unique is that each measure will include sections in simple and compound meters. In other words, the measure will divide into sections of 2 equal parts and sections of 3 equal parts.

For a review on Meter see Understanding Meter.

To review how Time Signatures function in Simple Time see Understanding Time Signatures.

To review Compound Meter go to Understanding Compound Meter.

Complex Meter with a 4 in the Denominator

The most common Complex Meter time signatures with a 4 in the denominator are:  and .

In reality, these two meters are played just like simple meter. The quarter note receives the beat and the beat is divided into two equal eighth notes. What makes these meters unique is that there is an odd number of beats in the measure. Because of this, the measure will divide into groups of 2 and 3 beats.

 will divide into beats of 2 + 3, or 3 + 2.

 will divide into beats of 2 + 2 + 3, 3 + 2 + 2, or 2 + 3 + 2.

Complex Meter with an 8 in the Denominator

There are 3 common complex meters with an 8 in the denominator:  ,  and .

Complex Meter with an 8 in the denominator is more difficult to feel than those with a 4 in the denominatior. The eighth note will stay the same length but the beats will be shorter or longer depending on whether there are 2 or 3 eighth notes in the beat, a quarter note or a dotted quarter respectively. In other words, the beats will change from simple to complex but the eighth note length will stay steady.

This division into unequal beats gives the music a lilting feeling of long and short beats. Almost as if the musician was limping with a long step and short step.

 can have 2 beats of 2 eighths (quarter) + 3 eighths (dotted quarter) or 3 eighths + 2 eighths.

 is similar to the above but with an another beat of 2 eighths.

 has one beat of 2 eighths and 2 beats of 3 eigths.

Complex Meter with Other Denominators

Complex Meter with any other denominators are rare but will function similar to the above. For example, complex meter with a 2 in denominator will have simple beats of 2 quarter notes and complex beats of 3 quarter notes.

play_circle  𝅗𝅥.   𝅗𝅥   𝄂

Counting Complex Meter

Complex Meter with a 4 in the denominator is counted just like simple meter.

Complex Meter with an 8 in the denominator is more complicated. You will count the beats with two eighth notes like simple time and the beats with 3 eighth notes like compound time.

Speaking Complex Meter

You can speak complex meter in the same way we have simple and complex meter.

Beaming Complex Meter

In complex meter it is important to remember to beam the eighths in groups of 2 and 3 so that the length of each beat can easily be seen. Notice the difference between the 3 + 2 and the 2 + 3 beaming of the eighth notes.

2 + 3: play_circle   𝅘𝅥   𝄀   𝅘𝅥  𝄂

3 + 2: play_circle   𝅘𝅥    𝄀  𝅘𝅥  𝄂

Examples of Complex Meter Rhythms

Below are a few examples of rhythms in Complex Meter.

Complex Meter Rhythms in 

Complex Meter Rhythms in 

Notice the similarity between these rhythms and those above. The rhythms below are essentially the above rhythms using notes that are half the length.

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