# Note values (`note-values.html`)

A time signature says how long a bar is. Note values say how long each sound (or silence) lasts **inside** that bar. Together they let you **read** a rhythm and **write** one that adds up.

Interactive page: [`note-values.html`](note-values.html). Twin of this document. Part of Listen & read, after [Time signatures](time-signatures.md). Guitar twin: [Note values](/guitar/note-values.html).

## The family

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.

| Note | In 4/4 | Fill one 4/4 bar |
|------|--------|------------------|
| **Whole** | 4 beats | 1 |
| **Half** | 2 beats | 2 |
| **Quarter** | 1 beat | 4 |
| **Eighth** | ½ beat | 8 |
| **Sixteenth** | ¼ beat | 16 |

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).

**Sources (two-check):** Open Music Theory — rhythmic values · musictheory.net note durations.

## How this meets the time signature

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.

- **4/4** — four quarters. One whole, two halves, four quarters, eight eighths, or any mix that sums to 4.
- **3/4** — three quarters. A dotted half fills it. A whole note does not fit.
- **2/2** — cut time: the beat is a **half** note. Same length as 4/4; feel two big beats.
- **6/8** — six eighths, felt as two dotted-quarter pulses (**1** & a **2** & a). The bar lasts as long as three quarters.

Pitch names: [Sight reading](reading.md). Meter labels: [Time signatures](time-signatures.md).

## How to count

In 4/4: quarters = **1 2 3 4**; eighths = **1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &**; sixteenths = **1 e & a 2 e & a …**. In 6/8: **1** & a **2** & a. Beam eighths and sixteenths **by beat**.

## Write a bar

On the HTML page: pick 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, or 6/8, add notes and rests until the bar is full, then **Play bar**. Tempo follows the practice-bar metronome (quarter note).

## Read 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. The page ships four-quarter, two-half, dotted-quarter + eighth, eight-eighth, and sixteenth mix examples.

Continue: [Sight reading](reading.md) · [Highway](highway.md)