Note values

Press Hear it. Each row is half as long as the one above it. In 4/4 the walking beat is the quarter note.

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

The dot, the rest, and the tie are on Western theory · Note values. On guitar and ukulele those lengths are the strumming patterns: guitar and ukulele.

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. The gallop is the one to know for the left hand: a long note (an eighth) then two short ones (sixteenths) on every beat, dah da-da. It is the Rhythm room’s Gallop.

Four quarters Two halves Dotted quarter + eighth, then two quarters Eight eighths Four sixteenths, quarter, half Gallop: eighth and two sixteenths, four times

Next: Time signatures is how many of these fill a bar. Counting syllables are on Western theory · Note values. Then Sight reading and Highway Game.