How to: Define a "Bar"

[KillaClown]

Not the pub muthafuckaz.



Im talkin about a bar in rap.

Like the game got that 100 bars and so does Cannibus...


but how do you exactly define a bar???

THere was a post like this over at Acidrap.com and although there was much speculation about what exactly a bar is- if anybody posted the correct definition, it wasn't all too clear and it didnt exactly rule out other people's opinions.


Remember that movie better off dead? That movie was tight.

 

[mizzouplaya]

the smallest metrical divisions of a composition, containing a fixed number of beats, marked off by vertical lines on the staff.

 

[Kawnar]

the length of a bar matters on the BPM......usually you can tell how long a bar is by counting 1,2,3,4, in sync with the beat. for me its hard to explain...but every rapper and producer should know what a bar is anyway.

 

[mizzouplaya]

A real bar is actually lines drawn perpendicularly across the staff to divide it into measures. The term also means measure in common usage, but the bar is strictly the line itself, and not the measure it defines.

 

[in10city_131x]

a "bar" is the "section" of notation between two vertical lines on the musical staff. so the two answers above mizzouplayas are somewhat right but wrong. since most rap shit is 4/4 it ends up being - kick, snare, kick snare- in a straight beat. but that's not true in 3/4, 7/4, 6/4, etc etc. [ that first number basically tells you how many "beats" there are within one bar. eq. in 3/4, there are only 3 beats in a bar. The latter number refers to how the bar is divided - if it's x/4, the bar is divided into x quarter notes. if it's x/8, it's x 8th notes.]
also the bpm of a song has nothing to do with what a "bar" is.

 

[in10city_131x]

A real bar is actually lines drawn perpendicularly across the staff to divide it into measures. The term also means measure in common usage, but the bar is strictly the line itself, and not the measure it defines.

that's right man

 

[Kawnar]

A real bar is actually lines drawn perpendicularly across the staff to divide it into measures. The term also means measure in common usage, but the bar is strictly the line itself, and not the measure it defines.

I was explaining it in a way that people who dont read or make music (or study) might understand

 

[sam42004]

A bar is 2 lines that rhyme demonstrated as so...

"This dude got holes in his pants//
He so underground he still livin wit his aunts//"
-2Young
yea aint so hard now is it.
-sam

 

[in10city_131x]

I was explaining it in a way that people who dont read or make music (or study) might understand

there's no way for them to "understand" it correctly unless you show them (make them listen to something and point it out) or use some terms used in music, elementary terms in this case.

and there's absolutely no way to explaine it using bpm in the same sentence no matter how you put it.

Although, somebody might even get it if you say something like "well, if you're listening to a rap song... and when you nod your head to the music 4 times - that's a "bar" (measure) of 4/4"
but they might be rhythmically retarded and nod their head spastically which would make that wrong

 

[DaSlacker]

1 2 3 4
2 2 3 4
3 2 3 4
4 2 3 4


4 bars.

 

[Heat Myser]

123
223
323
423

4 bars

haha...there are many variations. Whoever thought it was based on lines you have written needs to pay less attention to everyday rap and learn more about music composition.

 

[mizzouplaya]

^^ if you read my first post it says that it has a fixed number of beats....so as long as the number stays the same be it 3 beats in heats example or 4 in daslacker's it is still correct... but when people are saying bars they really mean measures

 

[Stealth]

Try to freestyle. If you can stay on beat, then you probably know what a bar is without even knowing it.

 

[T.C]

if you want to understand what a bar mens in rap terms you should listen to rappers who have a simple, straightforward cadence...for example Too Short

From "Freaky Tales"
I met this girl, her name was JOAN (end of bar 1)
She loved the way I rocked the MICROPHONE (end of bar 2)
When I met Joan, I took her HOME (end of bar 3)
She was just like a doggy all on my BONE (end of bar 4)

in his case its easy to know the bars just listen for the rhyming words

 

[KillaClown]

I was correct for the most part...

It can differentiate between songs on exactly what a bar is, I understand it. I guess the dudes over at acidrap will just have to figure the shit out theirself if they dont know. I been listenen to rap for a long time now, I pretty much knew it without realizing I knew it.

 

[DaSlacker]

123
223
323
423

4 bars

haha...there are many variations. Whoever thought it was based on lines you have written needs to pay less attention to everyday rap and learn more about music composition.

totally correct... i was just making it easy. Most "pop" music today is 4/4 so i figured it would "hit home" per se.

 

[Heat Myser]

^^^^

Tell me about it...I get so used to 4/4, and then I'll throw in something like Ben Folds and the tempo will fuck with me for a bit cause it's in like 3/4.

 

[Claygo]

I always thought a bar was 2 lines, not 1.

Take this portion of Xzibit's LAX for example..

Break down your whole regime, like an M-16
Make sure the chamber in the barrel is clean (End of bar 1)
And the spring that's connected to the firin pin
That's connected to the trigger when I squeeze it again, begin (End of bar 2)

I've always heard thats how bars were counted, maybe I've been wrong.

 

[techn9nehq]

^^^^

Tell me about it...I get so used to 4/4, and then I'll throw in something like Ben Folds and the tempo will fuck with me for a bit cause it's in like 3/4.

yeah i hate that...haha....wtf?

 

[Heat Myser]

FUCK YOU NICK...lol.