Tempo question

[steve]

I've bought several tab books that in some songs, instead of saying something like this for tempo:

moderate rock b = 100

it says 'free time'.... what does that mean??? how fast or slow is it?????

[Andrew]

Free time means it is sort of in time, but played very loosely. The tempo slows down and speeds up. I've only ever seen it on music where there is only one instrument playing. It usually just means play it as fast or slow as you like and don't worry about sticking to the same tempo the whole way through.

[steve]

ok, thanks