“Dictionary definitions” of simple meter (also called simple time) tend to be so confusing that they are of very limited use to beginning music students.

I’d therefore like to offer a simplified, more practical definition: Simple meter is any time signature with 4 or less as the top number.

The top number of a time signature in simple time is almost always 2, 3 or 4. It doesn’t matter what the bottom number is, but I’ll give some examples anyway:

2/4 means that there are two beats per measure, and each beat is a quarter note:

3/4 means that there are three beats per measure, and each beat is a quarter note:

4/4 means that there are four beats per measure, and each beat is a quarter note. 4/4 is often abbreviated as C in sheet music. C stands for common time, since 4/4 is the most common time signature:

Remember that 4/4 and common time are identical.

Here are a few more examples of simple meter:

2/8 means that there are two beats per measure, and each beat is an eighth note:

3/8 means that there are three beats per measure, and each beat is an eighth note:

4/8 is extremely uncommon, since in most cases it can be reduced to 2/4. Four eighth notes have the same duration as two quarter notes.

It’s essential to remember that this is the case only for simple time. For example, 6/8 is not the same as 3/4, even though six eighth notes indeed have the same duration as three quarter notes. The reason is that 6/8 is a compound meter and it has only two beats (each adding up to three eighth notes) per measure, not six.

2/2 is also an example of simple meter:

It is also called cut time:

Cut time is abbreviated by a C with a vertical slash through it. Here, there are two beats per measure, and each beat is a half note.

After this brief lesson you should now understand everything you need to know about simple meter!