Seven up
And so to 7/4, a time signature you will not see often, although if you hunt around you’ll find examples, such as Pink Floyd’s Money and Radiohead’s 2+2=5.
Here’s one way of using those seven beats. The kick is hitting beats 1, 4 and 5; the snare, beats 3 and 7. Notice it has a bit of a shuffle feel – more of that later.
My example is a track called Seven Hills, which started as a piano piece:
The main 7/4 riff in this piece is a descent from F#m to F to Em to C# with added 6ths in each case. This wasn’t written to be in 7/4 – it just turned out that way. The part that follows changes time, however, consisting of a 6/4 bar in which the chords descend from Dm to Cm to Bb to Am, and then two bars in 4/4 on Gm. I think, when you listen to it, it sounds natural enough and not deliberately obscure.
Below you’ll find a score to the piano version, which you’re welcome to download:
Anyway, the story doesn’t end there, because I worked on the track with my colleague, Kelvin Saunders (together we are Quelque Chose) to arrive at something rather different …
Instruments on Seven Hills:
Piano: Concert Grand from Native Instruments
Strings I: Session Strings from Native Instruments
Strings II: Equator from ROLI
Drums: Studio Drummer from Native Instruments
Bass: Equator from ROLI
Synth Lead: Equator from ROLI
I also played a (real) Gibson Les Paul guitar.