Tracks where they've hidden the '1' in the intro..

guitarfishbay

Of course musical phrases can start on beats other than 1

Jalapeno

Loads of jazz tunes have what they call pick-up notes before the 1 - you need to be able to count-in properly and KNOW your intros

EricTheWeary

Guitar Player did an entire article, several years ago, about how to find the 1 in Rocknroll and that pretty much everybody gets it wrong. Obviously they explained how to get it right as well although I can't remember that bit and I've never played it in a band.
When I was a lefty student I use to go see The Larks do it as ' been a long time since I been on the dole, woman' ending with chanting Maggie Maggie Maggie Out Out Out;  sadly when they recorded it they took out the recognisable riffs and made it a generic 12 bar. 
Err, where was I , oh yes it's a well known conundrum. 

Cirrus

@Bucket ; did you post the right songs? They both seem pretty straightforward; I guessed where the 1 was form the off and when the drums come in I'm right.

Not so much the intro, but Zep do something pretty cool with Black Dog.

Bucket

Cirrus said:

@Bucket ; did you post the right songs? They both seem pretty straightforward; I guessed where the 1 was form the off and when the drums come in I'm right.

Not so much the intro, but Zep do something pretty cool with Black Dog.

The second song threw me off when I first heard it - it sounded to me like there was a pick-up note which there wasn't. It's in how you hear it, I suppose.

The first song does mess with my head a bit. I can't work out why.

Jonathangus

Bucket said:

Cirrus said:

@Bucket ; did you post the right songs? They both seem pretty straightforward; I guessed where the 1 was form the off and when the drums come in I'm right.

Not so much the intro, but Zep do something pretty cool with Black Dog.

The second song threw me off when I first heard it - it sounded to me like there was a pick-up note which there wasn't. It's in how you hear it, I suppose.

The first song does mess with my head a bit. I can't work out why.

Those two didn't catch me out, but the ones that instantly came to mind are also Ginger Wildheart:

Bucket

@Jonathangus YES!

And yeah, I've finally got my head round Automatic Love. Makes sense now.

Jonathangus

Also, not the intro - but I can't for the life of me work out the timing at the start of the solo in this (skip to about 2:40):

ewal

I love listening to tracks in less obvious time signatures and working them out. The band American Football are experts at making it all sound very natural and musical.

prowla

I can't count, nor keep time, so I wouldn't know.

kaypeejay

prowla said:

I can't count, nor keep time, so I wouldn't know.

You must be a drummer 

prowla

kaypeejay said:

prowla said:

I can't count, nor keep time, so I wouldn't know.

You must be a drummer 

You can't beat a good drum!

vasselmeyer

I was listening to The White Album a couple of days ago and when I got to Happiness is a Warm Gun it brought this thread to mind. The time signatures are all over the place. Apparently it's 2 spliced parts of 95 takes they did before they were satisfied!

Here's what The Beatles Bible says:
* She’s not a girl who misses much… (0:00-0:14):
o 4 bars of 4/4.
* She’s well acquainted with the velvet touch… (0:14-0:45):
o 1 bar of 4/4
o 1 bar of 2/4
o 5 bars of 4/4
o 1 bar of 5/4
o 1 bar of 4/4.
* I need a fix cos I’m goin’ down… (0:45-1:13):
o twice through a 3 bars/4 bars/4 bars series of 3/8 (i.e. 22 bars of 3/8).
* Mother superior, jump the gun… (1:13-1:35):
o thrice through a bar each of 9/8 and 10/8.
* Happiness is a warm gun… (1:35-2:43):
o 4 bars of 4/4
o 3 bars of 12/8 (with the drums doing 4 bars of 4/4 and 1 bar of 2/4!)
o 5 bars of 4/4 (the final bar entering free time)
o 1 bar of 2/4 (in free time)
o 5 bars of 4/4

tampaxboo

i liked the old 76 punk thing of shouting 1, 2, 3, 4, and then going into any random thrashy ryththm. and i don't think most of the bands who did it realised the irony either, which is another layer of funny. it was just the thing to do. safety pins, leather jacket, 1,2,3,4...

but i like the basic anti-musicianship gesture. as if 1, 2, 3, 4,  became a joke way of saying 'we are starting another song now' entirely divorced from its original function to set the beat.

ramones and buzzcocks famous exponents of the art.

http://magazine.art21.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/1234man.jpg

Paul_C

All Along The Watchtower - Hendrix, I never get that until it starts properly.

The worst one is Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones, but that's more because it's a mess with bits overdubbed later than someone deliberately trying to confuse.

sinbaadi

Neill

The intro to "Take it Easy" by the Eagles is the one that annoys me to this day.  I just don't think that extra beat in the intro adds anything to the song and I wonder if it was a mistake that they kept in just so it looked like it was intentional..

Winny_Pooh

The missing "1"

Winny_Pooh

Then this one, intro could have been designed to mess with any band trying to cover it

impmann

Turn it on again by Genesis

Try counting it...