When Did You Learn About Bar Counts, Song Structure, Measures etc?

[Ripp]

I played instruments as a kid but didn't know any of that shyt. I just knew where to put your finger to make certain sounds. I didn't understand the technicalities.

I've always listened to rap since I was a kid because it was always on in my house but around my early teens I started really getting into it.

It started with me writing lyrics down to a song I wanted to know. I'd tape it off the radio and play it back and pause it every couple of seconds and write the words down.

Shortly after i started rapping myself but I still didn't know what a bar was or any of that until I read DMX'S auto biography. During one of the chapters he broke down song structure and how he learned to rap. He pretty much said the same thing you said in the OP about the 16 bars and 8 bar hook he also explained when to come on the beat and rap

Before I read that I used to just write run on rhymes and stop whenever I felt like it.

So DMX taught me how to rap

Now i don't even count I can just tell when to stop writing as I'm constructing the verse and when I should start rapping on a beat

 

[BaRRyG]

School. I sang in high school with a group (Good enough to get invited to perform at Jazz @ Lincoln Center).

What happend?

 

[PhonZhi]

i learned from this

why is music theory important ?

Good shyt

 

[MoneyBags]

figured out what 16 bars was length wise/measure wise around start of high school, listening to Sheek say something about 16 bars in a verse made me curious as to what 16 bars actually was. From there I started counting bars in songs and figured a hook was 4 bars with a repeat usually, what bridges were, etc. Was always a geek for the technical aspects of music.

 

[Ghpstface]

When I bought an MPC.

 

[Kyle C. Barker]

Like when did u learn that most verses are 12-16 bar measurements, Hooks are mainly 4-8 bars and bridges 8bars in the average song made for radio? When did u become aware that songs are "measured" and are similar in length? When and how did u learn to count bars? obviously if u were in the band you learned earlier than most, but what about those of you that werent taught?

When I was in middle school I use to record music videos off of BET. Whenever a song came on that I didn't like I would switch tv stations and come back 4 minutes later to see what new songs were playing. Plus my vcr had a timer on it so I quickly learned that every song was about four minutes long.


I learned about rhyme schemes from listening to illmatic. Whenever I woyld recite a nas verse I was always blown away at how nice it sounded no matter what pace I would recite it. Then it hit me that he was rhyming the last two words of every sentence which have the verse a natural rhythm.