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Stop Time


Chunk

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I am currently learning double stops and the term "stop time" came up, what are some well known "stop time" songs?

 

Well, there's no connection between double stops & stop time, but Steely Dan's "Show Biz Kids" is an example of the latter.

 

Scott Fraser

 

Scott Fraser
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there's no connection between double stops & stop time

 

I totaly understand that I was just explaining how I came across the topic...in my search on double stops I cam across the term stop time I understan what a double stop is what i dont know is what stop time is maybe I wasnt clear on that sorry...

all chucks children are out there playing his licks

 

*Bob Seger

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An example of stop time would be the beginning of "Blue Suede Shoes," where Carl Perkins (and later, everybody else) hits a chord then stops playing while he sings "one for the money" (chord) "two for the show", etc. In other words, the singer (or soloist) is singing over the song form, in time, but the musicians aren't playing except for maybe one beat per measure or something. Does that help, Chunk?

 

Or another of my favorite stop time sections from Steely dan's "pretzel Logic": "I stepped up on the platform/The man gave me the news/He said, You must be joking son/Where did you get those shoes?"

 

"You can't be the best. There is no 'best.' You can only be a good one." - Muddy Waters
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To me stop time means "STOP!!!"

 

In the example of Carl Perkins, even though the instruments stop during the singing, the rhythmic feel definitely continues by way of the singing - if you counted the beats, the tempo would be fairly steady through the vocal and chord hits. To me that's more of an arranging technique using heavy accents.

 

Now MY example of "Black Dog" is much better (of course ;) ) because there is really no steady tempo to count through those stops for the vocal lines. There is a feel element to the timing, but the vocal lines almost become like cadenzas because they last so long and kind of prevent a steady tempo from being established through those sections.

 

True stop time is pretty rare. Even "War Pigs" has a steady tempo through the sections where the band lays out during the verse lines - you can hear the hi-hat gently tapping time. Some real old-school blues, either Delta or Chicago has some stop time type stuff, because those guys took extreme liberties with things like time signatures, 12 bar forms, etc. and went with feeding off what the lead singer was doing.

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To me stop time means "STOP!!!"

 

In the example of Carl Perkins, even though the instruments stop during the singing, the rhythmic feel definitely continues by way of the singing - if you counted the beats, the tempo would be fairly steady through the vocal and chord hits. To me that's more of an arranging technique using heavy accents.

 

Now MY example of "Black Dog" is much better (of course ;) ) because there is really no steady tempo to count through those stops for the vocal lines. There is a feel element to the timing, but the vocal lines almost become like cadenzas because they last so long and kind of prevent a steady tempo from being established through those sections...

 

"Black Dog" always sounded to me like Led Zep were too drunk to count accurately, but I see your point. My understanding of stop time has always been that the time continues though the instruments stop. Huh! - Can you think of another example of what you're saying, where the players weren't drunk?

"You can't be the best. There is no 'best.' You can only be a good one." - Muddy Waters
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I hear a groove on "Black Dog." The beat is just upside down.

 

That too, but I'm referring to the sections where the guitar just sustains while Plant carries on about whatever those lyrics are supposed to mean.

 

Yup. I'm saying I hear a groove in Plant's vocal. It's definetly one of those "loose band grooves" but I think it's there.

 

BTW, Billster. We're wrapping up the next issue, and you're in Editor Boy's Big 8. God I feel dirty typing that!

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...I'm referring to the sections where the guitar just sustains while Plant carries on about whatever those lyrics are supposed to mean.

 

"hey, hey, momma, said the way you move/Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove" seems ambiguous to you? :grin:

 

"You can't be the best. There is no 'best.' You can only be a good one." - Muddy Waters
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...I'm referring to the sections where the guitar just sustains while Plant carries on about whatever those lyrics are supposed to mean.

 

"hey, hey, momma, said the way you move/Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove" seems ambiguous to you? :grin:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000541WK.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

He's referring to aerobacize, right.

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