DESCRIPTION:
Odd time signatures - also called complex, asymmetric, irregular or unusual time signatures - are challenging but can add a whole new level of interest to your music. Watch this piano and guitar tutorial to learn a cool trick on how to use them in your own playing, whether it's guitar, piano, drums or any other instrument!

(Note: here "Odd" doesn't mean "not even", but simply "unusual". 3/4 isn't considered to be an odd time signature, but 10/8 is.)

In essence, an odd time signature can be simplified by breaking it down into simpler units. For example, a 5/4 signature can be decomposed into 3/4 + 2/4, meaning you count "1,2,3,1,2" while playing, instead of "1,2,3,4,5", emphasizing the 1's. Check out some of the examples that follow in this video tutorial's description!

The time signature says how many beats fit into each bar. Stated informally, it tells you how you should count while playing. The most common time signatures, 4/4 (four quarters) and 3/4 (three quarters), account for probably almost all modern pop western music. Yet some of music's most endearing songs are written using odd time signatures. Probably the first musician to bring them into prominence was Dave Brubeck, and the most famous song using such complex signature is his Take Five (written in, of course, 5/4):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs
Another one of his masterpieces is the Rondo ala Turk in 9/8 (broken down into 9=2+2+2+3 as explained in this current lesson):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKNZqM0d-xo
Unusual signatures have since found a home in many more modern styles. For example, progressive metal/rock makes abundant use of them, as can be heard in Haken's Insomnia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbvwMpIAKg
Pop also has some brilliant songs, such as Peter Gabriel's amazing Solsbury Hill (written in 14/7, broken down into 14 = 3+3+2+3+3, as explained in the current video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OO2PuGz-H8
And let's not forget TV scores, amongst which the most famous example is Schifrin's music for the immortal show Mission Impossible in 10/8 (broken down into 10=3+3+2+2):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HFakjigeFc

== From Wikipedia =============================

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature

The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, bar signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value constitutes one beat. In a musical score, the time signature appears at the beginning of the piece, as a time symbol or stacked numerals [...] immediately following the key signature or immediately following the clef symbol if the key signature is empty. A mid-score time signature, usually immediately following a barline, indicates a change of meter.

[...]

Signatures that do not fit the usual duple or triple categories are called complex, asymmetric, irregular, unusual, or odd—though these are broad terms, and usually a more specific description is appropriate. The term odd meter, however, sometimes describes time signatures in which the upper number is simply odd rather than even, including 3/4 and 9/8. These more complex meters are common in some non-Western music, but rarely appeared in formal written Western music until the 19th century. The first deliberate quintuple meter pieces were apparently published in Spain between 1516 and 1520, though other authorities reckon that the Delphic Hymns to Apollo (one by Athenaeus is entirely in quintuple meter, the other by Limenius predominantly so), carved on the exterior walls of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi in 128 BC, are probably earlier. The third movement (Larghetto) of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1828) is an early, but by no means the earliest, example of 5/4 time in solo piano music.

== Other Related Videos and Playlists =========

Here are other interesting playlists from my channel which group together my different piano lessons by theme/category:

Reading Sheet Music for Beginners: a 4-Part Series
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6596DB58980FDCDA
Inspiring Piano Harmony, Chord and Voicing Tips and Tricks:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP9cbwDiLzdIohD9iHFXzZIjfgoe0ETzm
Exercises for Developing Piano Technique
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP9cbwDiLzdKqPegzd6jkoEaL7HHw8QuA
The 2-5-1 Harmonic Progression: a 4-Part Series
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE53C45D3F16F64C0
The "Piano Quickie" series, with byte-sized lessons about piano harmony and music theory in general:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP9cbwDiLzdKY0kV1hPE4zNosvz_Ur7wD