I’m transcribing the Wailin’ Jennys version of Bold Riley.
The verse feels like
3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Chorus:
4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | (x2)
With no Boom-Chuck at all (it’s really a dirge). It occurs to me that what I really want is just a guitar strum on the downbeat. I’ve been messing around with band settings and meter/line-length without success.
How can I best reflect this in SM? I’m not even sure if I want to say it’s in 3/4 or 4/4 time.
Thanks, Lee
Well, the good news is that it sounds like it has a steady underlying beat. But yeah it’s probably a mix of time signatures. You’ll have to use the Chart menu in the editor to switch between 4/4, 3/4, and maybe 2/4. That should be all you need to capture the phrasing; line length can them be used to lay it out in a more pleasing/readable way.
You could make all the cells into diamonds using the Effects menu to get strums on the downbeats, or perhaps set up a nice arpeggiated strum for the Guitar (start with Boom Chuck with Crosspicking and turn Feel up to Very Busy and set Bass Notes to Root Notes Only:
Thank you a lot, Luke.
First, diamonds are clearly the way forward 
As I listen to it again, it’s clear that they’re mostly staying in 3/4 throughout the verse. It’s just a very flexible meter where they’re all just watching and listening (this is what happens when a band has been together for 25 years). Then there’s one extra beat at the end of the verse.
The chorus is 4|3|3|4, but again, the rhythm “breathes,” as the best music always does.
I think if I can get a single beat to be a constant value, I’ll have a pretty close approximation. That is, the length of a 3/4 bar should be exactly 75% of a 4/4 bar. I’m not sure that’s happening now.
Here’s what I have so far, and if anybody named Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John (or John, Paul, George, or Ringo) have any ideas, I’m all ears.
Thanks, Lee
I can confirm that the length of the quarter note is maintained when switching between time signatures, so 1 bar of 3/4 is 75% the length of 1 bar of 4/4.
