To keep things organized, we group our notes in something called "bars". A bar of music usually contains 4 beats, 3 beats etc... To figure out a bar of music by listening to it, we can count and tap along and find out where the accents seem to repeat. When reading music, we can look at the time signature. This is that fraction that happens at the beginning of a piece of music.
--------------
-4------------
-/------------
-4------------
--------------
Sometimes a letter "C" will replace the fraction. It means common time which is 4/4 time.
The top number in the fraction stands for how many beats in a bar ( in most cases it is 4 ). The bottom number stands for the note value that is equal to the beat of the music. In most cases the bottom number is 4 which indicates that the 1/4 note is the pulse of the music. In other words, 4/4 time means each bar is equal to 4 1/4 notes.
Let's see what a 1/4 note looks like.
The Quarter Note
A 1/4 note is equal to one beat and looks something like this in rhythm notation:
|
| = 1 beat (quarter note)
/
How would we count them if we put 4 of them together?
| | | |
| | | |
/ / / /
The first note (or rest) in a bar is ALWAYS played on beat 1. The length of the first note tells us when to play the second note. Since this first note is equal to 1 beat then the second note is played on beat 2, 3rd note on beat 3 and the fourth note is played on beat 4. Like so:
| | | |
play | | | |
/ / / /
count 1 2 3 4
Every time you clap consecutively on the beat, you're clapping in quarters (1/4 notes).
The Eighth Note
The eighth note is equal to 1/2 of a beat and looks similar to this:
|
| = 1/2 beat (eighth note)
/
This would be a good time to quickly point out the parts of a note.
stem > | < flag
stem > |
/ < head
1/8 notes are often played in pairs. When 2 1/8 notes are written, their flags are tied together like so:
___
| |
| | = 2 eighth notes together
/ / equals 1 beat.
How would we count this rhythm?
___ ___ ___ ___
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / /
Like this:
___ ___ ___ ___
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / /
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
You should know that 1/8 notes can also be grouped in fours like this:
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / /
Let's mix 1/8 and 1/4 notes and find out what beat each note would be played on.
What beat would each of these notes be played on?
__ __
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
/ / / / / /
Remember that the first note is ALWAYS played on beat number 1. We figure out where to play the second note from the value of the first note.
This would be the count for the above rhythm:
__ __
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
/ / / / / /
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
What beat would each of these notes be played on?
__ __ __
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
here it is:
__ __ __
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
Remember that the first note in a bar is ALWAYS played on beat 1. The length of the first note tells us when to play the second note. Since this first note is equal to 1/2 beat then the second note is played on beat 1 1/2 (or 1+). The 3rd note is played 1 full beat after 1+ which is beat 2+. The fourth note is played 1/2 after 2+ which is beat 3 and so on.
It might be easier to think that the value of a note is not how long it's held, but tells us when to play the next note.
Whole notes and Half notes
The whole note is equal to 4 beats and looks similar to this:
<> = 4 beats (whole note)
One of these notes is all that you have in a normal bar of music.
How would you count and play this?
<> <>
Like this:
<> <>
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Each whole note is played on beat 1 and held for 4 beats.
The half note is equal to 2 beats and looks similar to this:
|
|
<> = 2 beats (half note)
How would you count and play this ?
| | | |
| | | |
<> <> <> <>
Like this:
| | | |
| | | |
<> <> <> <>
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Test your rhythm knowledge with my rhythm quiz #1.
The triplet
A triplet is a group of 3 eighth notes all tied together and looks similar to this:
___3___
| | |
| | | = 3 eighth notes together, with the 3 on top
/ / / means they are triplets. Equals 1 beat.
Here's a way of counting triplets:
___3___ ___3___ ___3___ ___3___
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
1 n a 2 n a 3 n a 4 n a
The Sixteenth note
|
| = 1/4 beat (sixteenth note)
/
___ ___ ___
|---|---|---|
| | | | = 4 sixteenth notes together.
/ / / / equals 1 beat.
Here's a way of counting 1/16 notes:
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
|---|---|---| |---|---|---| |---|---|---| |---|---|---|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
1 e n a 2 e n a 3 e n a 4 e n a
Review:
whole note = 4 beats
half note = 2 beats
quarter note = 1 beat
eighth note = 1/2 beat or 2 notes per beat
triplet note = 1/3 beat or 3 notes per beat
sixteenth note = 1/4 beat or 4 notes per beat
Get to know the names and values of each note - There's alot of musicians that don't even read music, but still use these names to communicate musical ideas. | 
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