time sig

this might sound like a lame question but im new in music thing and how was wondering can some one explain time signature and what it does and how it should be set in different scenerios. And how should you set it in a two bar, four bar loop etc.............

99% of the music u hear is in 4/4

not much popular music is outside of 4/4, true.

some famous examples are "the mission impossible theme" in 5/4 along with john carpenter's "halloween" theme also in 5.

pink floyd's "money" is in 7/8, several soundgarden songs are in 7/4 such as "spoonman" and "outshined". the verse section of "all you need is love" by the beatles is in 7 too.

lots of led zeppelin riffs are in odd time, like "black dog", "four sticks" and "the ocean".

stereolab uses some odd meters to very nice effect, never seeming nerdy or deliberately trying to be clever.

i don't think i've ever heard rappers throwing down in odd time, but i'd like to hear that.

currently 80% of everything i've done with my mpc500 uses non-4/4 meters.

4/4 is by far the most common time signature for pop music.

In electronic music at least, 6/8 is probably nr 2. (DA da da Da da da DA da da Da da da)

3/4 rocks

Didn't led zeppelin use the Fibonacci sequence for the time sigs on one of their albums?

^perhaps, though i've never heard of that. that would be tough, the fifth measure would have 21 beats and the 6th 37! i guess one could do 2.3.5.8 type sequences, but that's nothing too out there.

however any good tabla player worth his salt could probably rattle off fills in fibonacci numbers while gluing together a model airplane.