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(8 replies, posted in Music theory)

You can have a five beat measure in 4/4 time. If the music is playing to dancers, a 5 beat measure will make them change to the opposite foot. If you are playing in a band, it will make the writer very unpopular with the musicians if they haven't rehearsed it before.
I recorded a song with a six beat measure in a 4/4 song. I told the guitarist/writer he had been playing alone for too long.That would depend on what kind of note 4/4 is 4 beats to a bar with a quarter note recieving one beat there are several ways to write a bar of music you could start with a dotted half(3beats) and add 4  1/16th notes but no matter how you arrange the bar it still equals 4 beats in 4/4 time.