# 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 — including each **strum**. 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. Follows [Strumming · time signatures](strumming.md). Piano twin: [Note values](/piano/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. A **rest** is silent for the same length. A **tie** joins two notes of the same pitch into one longer sound.

**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. Mix that sums to 4.
- **3/4** — three quarters. A dotted half fills it.
- **2/2** — cut time: feel two half-note beats.
- **6/8** — six eighths, two dotted-quarter pulses.

Meter labels: [Strumming](strumming.md#time-signatures).

## How to count

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

## On ukulele

A downstroke on the beat in 4/4 is a **quarter note**. Adding the **&**s as upstrokes turns the motion into **eighths** — that is why D-DU-UDU works. Dense sixteenth packs are optional; island eighths come first. Waltz bass-strum-strum is three quarters in 3/4.

## Write a bar

On the HTML page: pick a meter, add notes and rests until the bar is full, then **Play bar** (strums Em). Tempo follows the practice-bar metronome.

## Read a bar

Read the time signature, name each value in beats, check the sum, count, then play.

Continue: [Strumming](strumming.md) · [Play along](songs.md)