---
title: "Time Signatures: What 3/4, 3/8 and 5/8 Mean · Piakno"
description: "The two stacked numbers at the start of the music. The bottom one names the note being counted — 4 the quarter note, 8 the eighth — and the top one how many of them fill a measure. It is not a fraction."
url: "https://piakno.com/theory/time-signature"
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---

# Time signature

> The two stacked numbers at the start of the music. The bottom one names the note being counted — 4 the quarter note, 8 the eighth — and the top one how many of them fill a measure. It is not a fraction.

Also called meter signature

Reading one is two questions: how many beats per measure, and what counts as a beat. 4/4 is four beats of a quarter note. 3/4 is three beats of a quarter note. 6/8 is six eighth notes, counted in two big beats.

*4/4: four quarter notes fill a measure.*

*3/4: three fill it — which is what makes it a waltz.*

## What do the top and bottom numbers mean?

The bottom number names the note value being counted: 2 a half note, 4 a quarter, 8 an eighth, 16 a sixteenth (1 and 32 exist, but rarely). There is no note worth a third or a fifth, so a signature like 8/3 or 4/5 cannot exist; 3/16 and 9/16 are real, they simply count sixteenth notes. The top number says how many of those notes fill a measure. In simple time each one is a beat, so 3/4 is three quarter-note beats. When the top number is 6, 9 or 12 the time is compound, and the notes gather into big beats of three each: 6/8 moves in two beats, not six.

What a time signature really tells you is where the stress falls. 4/4 goes strong, weak, medium, weak; 3/4 goes strong, weak, weak. The same notes in the wrong meter come out as a different piece, because what a listener hears is the cycle of stresses, not the bar lines.

## Which time signatures are common?

| Signature | Counted as | The beat is | You see it in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 4/4 | 4 beats | Quarter note | Most pop and study pieces; also written C |
| 3/4 | 3 beats | Quarter note | Waltzes, minuets |
| 2/4 | 2 beats | Quarter note | Marches, polkas |
| 2/2 (cut time, written ¢) | 2 beats | Half note | Marches, fast Baroque pieces, many hymns |
| 3/8 | 3 beats, or 1 at speed | Eighth note | Quick dances, scherzos |
| 4/8 | 4 beats | Eighth note | Light, quick pieces; rarer than 2/4 |
| 6/8 | 2 big beats of 3 | Dotted quarter note | Lullabies, barcarolles, jigs — see 6/8 time |
| 9/8 | 3 big beats of 3 | Dotted quarter note | Irish slip jigs, flowing slow pieces — see 6/8 time |
| 12/8 | 4 big beats of 3 | Dotted quarter note | Slow blues, ballads — see 6/8 time |
| 5/8 | 5 eighths: 3 + 2 or 2 + 3 | Eighth note | Balkan folk dances, modern pieces |
| 7/8 | 7 eighths: 2 + 2 + 3, 3 + 2 + 2 or 2 + 3 + 2 | Eighth note | Balkan folk music, modern pieces |

8/8 is eight eighth notes, usually grouped 3 + 3 + 2, which makes it feel lopsided where 4/4 feels even. 18/8 stretches compound time: six big beats, each three eighth notes long.

> 4/8 is not 2/4. Both measures are the same length, but 2/4 counts two quarter-note beats and 4/8 counts four lighter eighth-note beats, normally felt in pairs. 4/8 has the stress pattern of a small 4/4: strong, weak, medium, weak.

## How do you count 5/8 and 7/8?

Count them in groups, not in single eighth notes. 5/8 is a group of three plus a group of two: ONE-two-three ONE-two when it is 3 + 2, and ONE-two ONE-two-three when it is 2 + 3. 7/8 follows the same rule with three groups — 2 + 2 + 3, 3 + 2 + 2 or 2 + 3 + 2. The score tells you which by how the eighth notes are beamed, and the first note of each group is the one to lean on.

*5/8 as 3 + 2: five eighth notes, beamed as a group of three and a group of two.*

> 6/8 counted as six even beats drags. It is really two big beats of three eighth notes each: ONE-two-three TWO-two-three.

## Common questions

### What does the top number in a time signature mean?

How many of the bottom number’s notes fill one measure. In 3/4 that is three quarter notes, counted 1-2-3 before you begin again; in 6/8 the six eighth notes fall into two groups of three, which you feel as two beats.

### What does 3/8 time mean?

Three beats to a measure, with an eighth note as the beat, so one measure lasts as long as a dotted quarter note. It counts like 3/4 with shorter beats, and at a quick tempo it is often felt as a single beat per measure.

### Is 6/8 the same as 3/4?

No. A measure of each lasts three quarter notes, but 3/4 has three beats that split in two and 6/8 has two beats that split in three. That is why 6/8 lilts while 3/4 sways like a waltz; the 6/8 entry shows how to count it.

### How do you count 5/8?

Divide the five eighth notes into a group of three and a group of two and say ONE-two-three ONE-two. Keep the eighth note steady and let only the first of each group carry weight.

## The course works through this in:

- [Lesson 14 · A below middle C, and the time signature](https://piakno.com/course/piano-foundations/lesson/14)

## Related entries

- [Note values](https://piakno.com/theory/note-values)
- [Rests](https://piakno.com/theory/rests)
- [Dotted notes](https://piakno.com/theory/dotted-notes)
- [6/8 time](https://piakno.com/theory/compound-time)

- [Theory reference](https://piakno.com/theory)