Nate Smith - Skip Step

From the album "KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere"
© 2016 Waterbaby Music Inc./Ropeadope LLC

[@gxdhabakkagw6268]

Just thought I’d tell everybody that according to Nate himself on Instagram, the song is felt in 4/4, 3/4, then 3/8

[@UkuleleAversion]

That makes the most sense

[@madebymarco]

Doesn't really matter coz I'm totally feeling the song! lol

[@whirlybird76]

That's great, I was feeling it in Cut Common 4,4,4,5

[@0tf850]

thank you!

[@Brunototguitar]

I'd make it simpler to think (at least for me) as 2 bars: 4/4 and "4 1/2" it works great for me 😉

[@ArmandoAbrantes-Ferreira]

This song reminds me a lot of the music from the state of Bahia, Brazil, particularly the musical style "Axé". Black American USA and Black American Brazilian peoples share a lot of common roots! (Americans are those born in continent America).

[@trustnugget280]

You know the music is wild when nearly all comments are about the time signature

[@bassmanx357]

100 %facts

[@asmaitre]

This song is brutal, it blew my mind trying to figure out the time signature. Thanks for all the info in the comments, now I can sleep peacefully.

[@idlebirdmusic]

4/4 to 9/8 back to 4/4... Nate... you truly are a beast bro

[@lucasdemello8655]

Its 8/8 then 9/8

[@sdictson7750]

4/4 4/4 4/4 then 5/4 ... but either one would work the same.

[@danielbrazil4683]

@@sdictson7750 4/4, 3/4, 3/8

[@gijsgranitzer6818]

The correct way to notate this is 17/8 but to play it is easier if you split it up in 8/8 and then 9/8

[@leandropaz3228]

17/8 8+6+3

[@TrevWILL79]

This time signature is off the the charts!!!

[@you7400]

its in 4/4

[@briantremper844]

with an extra eighth note every other bar

[@idlebirdmusic]

It’s 4/4 going into 9/8 back into 4/4.... or you can count it in 17/8

[@no.mans.guy.]

Its 3 bars of 4 and 1 bar of 5. Its on the charts cuz my teacher just gave me it haha

[@etlicheSobis]

Can also be 17/8... hutch-drums.com/2017/02/01/nate-smith-skip-step/

[@soufienkhalfaoui7593]

Timeless groove. Not everyday and everyone groove. Sheesh man...

[@johnalfredkonig8490]

I don't know what to say, I just keep playing it

[@avec2ailes941]

Oh my god ... this should become a jazz or funk standard!!! :))))

[@TFARN]

ABSOLUTELY!!

[@AWSMcube]

im trying to learn the basics of music theory so i hopped on a call with a couple of my music buddies, they taught me about time signature and for my first assignment i was supposed to figure out this song's time signature

[@dark_forces3992]

Good luck

[@LudwigSC93]

First time I'm hearing this band. Great stuff. I'm hearing some EW&F.

[@andreadaniel8792]

Woke up with this song in my head. 👏🏾👏🏾❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@soufienkhalfaoui7593]

Everyday for me too. Stuck in my head for years now. Hahahahaha!!!

[@aalbaglii]

I absolutely LOOOVEEE THIS

[@pisceslove9]

Omg this song is sick!! Gotta get this.

[@isaacraz]

7/4 +3/8? (in other words "feeling" 2 measures of 4/4 with the last quarter note divided into two dotted 8ths instead of 16ths) thoughts?

[@johannesebster5764]

makes sense. could even name it 4/4 + 2/4 + 5/8. It's totally a 4/4 feel, with the last quarter of the two bar cycle being extended by one eighth.

[@UkuleleAversion]

You’re correct, everyone else is getting it wrong. Nate Smith himself said this except he grouped into 4/4, 3/4 and 3/8 which makes even more sense because you can hear those three groups in the cycle really clearly.

[@clovaperez-corral9298]

This is awesome

[@milesleblanc164]

This song is brilliant mathematically and musically. Two bars of 6/8 plus a bar of five equals 17/8

[@johannesebster5764]

ok but why split it that way? I think it makes more sense to split it 4/4 + 9/8 or even 4/4 + 3/4 + 3/8

[@milesleblanc164]

@@johannesebster5764 That makes more sense to you, and it's cool that a different method works for you. But this is the process in feel that makes the most sense to me personally. Take it or leave it I guess. Have a good day. :)

[@UkuleleAversion]

Nah, that’s just plain wrong. The downbeats of your guess don’t match the harmonic rate. Nate Smith himself explained it as 4/4, 3/4 & 3/8 which grooves 1000x better than counting to 6 eighth notes (breaking over into the next part of the metre “3/4”) then another 6 and 5. This is not subjective. Just listen to the drums.

[@naattxxnaattxx7055]

To me that's such a wierd way to count it, but it's cool seeing people count it in different methods.

[@tyubacka]

Try dancing to this sober 🤣🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@simonstuart1325]

its 17/8 funk, two bar cycle, check out andrew hutchings drums for the chart .

[@UkuleleAversion]

Better to feel it as a mixed metre rather than a big block of eighth notes that doesn’t support the groove

[@realatomizer]

Some people need coffee in the morning. Some need their sigaret. I need Skip Step every day.

[@ToddTheJoker]

Is that an Acrolite in the pic?

[@odedfried-gaon2880]

Fantastic! #OdedMusic #OdedFriedGaon #Audioded

[@tristanlanza6921]

First off, big fan of Nate Smith, but is it just me or does this song begin or sounds just a bit like Talking Heads- Once in a Lifetime?

[@Idanbo]

Its kinda 17/8 that is played as 7/4 and 3/8.

[@spectralstreamer]

teletubies

[@st0mpz_G]

If someone can come up with a dance to this I will like comment and subscribe. ;)

[@RisikoAO]

This is too complicated for dancers, it'a an irregular beat (it adds 1/8 every two bars). KZbin dancers will have a mental breakdown with everything that is not 4/4

[@st0mpz_G]

I mean, you and I are technically both dancers, and are both aware of the extra beat! Perhaps you are just a 5 hour energy away from that subscription...

[@harshpeter]

It's not too complicated for dancers :D it is a hard piece to choreograph,that's true but that's it.

[@stevieraydevriesandries2596]

You Skip-Step instead you Go-Nuts

[@kendrickgainey]

Then call a medic.

[@FilippoMilan]

Bro i'm legit confused

[@homemadefilms5718]

Same

[@williamtaylor5320]

17

[@RC-nn1ld]

What's the time signature?

[@buenobus]

That is not quite right. It is as Jeremy Idlebird said above. It's counted as a bar of 4/4 followed by a bar of 9/8.

[@reiniervanzwieten7092]

Adrian K. Yee Can't you just count 17/16?

[@buenobus]

Reinier van zwieten Here's why I would say that it is a bar of 4/4 followed by a bar of 9/8, which repeats, rather than saying the closely related claim that it is 17/16. The band does some fills in each of the bars '4/4' and '9/8'. If it were truly 17/16, we would expect some kind of drum fills to be done in 17/16, but that's not what we hear. So at least, given the admittedly little music theory I've done (Grade 2 Royal Conservatory of Music), that was how I was taught how to accurately represent the time-signatures of pieces with hybrid meter.

[@reiniervanzwieten7092]

I count it as 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and then the 9 is half as long that is because i don't want to count in 16ths because it's easier to count in 8ths but if you would could the 16ths i would count ever other 16th as and just because it's easier like so 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-5-and-6-and-7-and-8-and-9-1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-5-and-6-and-7-and-8-and-9 etc etc

[@reiniervanzwieten7092]

Adrian K. Yee Tbh i can't really hear the fills they do after the 4/4 there is just a slightly different use of drums. i would personally prefer to count it in 17/16 or 8 1/2 because i don't like to count fast just because it's constant and constently switching between the two seems cumbersome to me. i do have to say that i have done very little educating on rhythm based theory the education i have had has been from school and that has mostly been inside of 4/4 and 6/8 and all the odd time stuff i have learned through just counting some of the songs i listened to (i mostly listen to prog metal stuff like periphery) so i might be wrong but i still personally prefer it my way.

[@romanandia8959]

Steve Reich would be proud

[@RC-nn1ld]

OK 4/4 1/8 every two bars.

[@reiniervanzwieten7092]

or 17/16

[@leonardporathwahlund8140]

Reinier van zwieten 17/8*

[@reiniervanzwieten7092]

@@leonardporathwahlund8140 that yes

[@UkuleleAversion]

A horrible way to count it but it does add up to the total number of beats.

[@aadoogg]

4/4, 3/4, 3/8 or 17/8