Note values

Each step down the tree is half as long. Two of any value equal one of the value above it. In 4/4 the walking beat is a quarter note — that is what the bottom 4 means.

A dot after a note adds half of its own value: dotted half = 3 beats, dotted quarter = 1½. A rest is the same length as its note, but silent. A tie joins two notes of the same pitch into one longer sound (two tied quarters = a half).

The bottom number names the beat unit. The top number says how many of those units fit in a bar. Every written bar must add up to that total — no leftover, no overflow.

• 44 four quarters. One whole, or two halves, or four quarters, or eight eighths, or any mix that sums to 4.
• 34 three quarters (a waltz bar). A dotted half fills it. A whole note does not fit.
• 22 cut time: the beat is a half note. The bar is still as long as a 4/4 bar, but you feel two big beats, not four.
• 68 six eighths, felt as two dotted-quarter pulses (1 & a 2 & a). The bar lasts as long as three quarters.

Pitch names live on Sight reading. Meter labels live on Time signatures. This page is the glue: how long each blob lasts.

Say the syllables out loud while you play. In 4/4:

Beams (the bars that join eighths and sixteenths) group notes by beat, so the eye can see where 1, 2, 3, and 4 sit. When you write, beam that way too.

Pick a meter, then add notes and rests until the bar is full. The strip is one bar wide. Play bar hears what you wrote on a C, in time with the metronome’s tempo (quarter note).

Add notes until the bar fills.

To decode a bar: (1) read the time signature, (2) name each note’s length in beats, (3) check they sum to the top number, (4) count it, then play. Try these 4/4 examples — they should already add to 4.

Four quarters Two halves Dotted quarter + eighth, then two quarters Eight eighths Four sixteenths, quarter, half

Next: name pitches on Sight reading, or catch falling notes on Highway. Same rhythm lesson on guitar: Note values.