Pop Music Theory


Lessons in Order

1-7 (Intro & Pitch) +
8-18 (Major Scale) +
19-29 (Chord Progressions) +
30-34 (Hook Chords) +
35-41 (Written Notes) -
38: Note Lengths
42-50 (Song Chorus) +

Lessons by Topic

Strategy +
Pitches +
Scales +
Written Notes +
38: Note Lengths
Chords +
Chord Progressions +
Melody +
Songwriting Steps +
Science +
Games & Tools +
Song Examples: Crazy +
Song Examples: Rolling Stone +

Detailed Contents

Lesson 38: Note Lengths

This lesson continues the introduction to written notes we began in Lesson 36: Written Notes: Treble Staff.

This lesson teaches you how long (how many beats) different notes last. Before taking this lesson, you should understand:
We make a note last a certain length of time (a certain number of beats) by adding "decorations" to the note:
  • Making the note-head white (hollow) or black (filled in)
  • Adding a stem
  • Adding flag(s) or beam(s)

(Disclaimer: Everything I say below is actually only true if the music is written in "4/4 time". Most pop music is in 4/4 time, so that keeps this lesson simpler.)

So, here are the different note lengths:

The Whole Note


The whole note lasts for a "whole measure" (in 4/4 time), which means it lasts for 4 beats. The whole note is "white" (hollow) with no stem. It looks like this:



The Half Note


The half note lasts half as long as a whole note, so it gets 2 beats. The half note is white, like the whole note, but with a stem. Here are a couple of half notes:



The Quarter Note


The quarter note gets 1 beat. The quarter note looks like the half note except it's black. Here are a couple of quarter notes:



The Eighth Note


The eighth note gets half a beat. A single eighth note looks like a quarter note, but with a flag. Here are a couple of single eighth notes:



However, when we have multiple eighth notes in a row, we can use a beam instead of flags. Here are two eighth notes drawn using a beam:



Counting Eighth Notes


It's important to count the beats when you're playing notes, so now that we have half-beat notes, you may ask: how do we count half-beats? The answer is: we say the word "and" between the beat numbers, like this:

| 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and | 1 and 2 and ...

When we show the counts along with the music, we write "+" instead of "and", although we still say "and". Here's an example:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

The Sixteenth Note


The sixteenth note gets 1/4 of a beat. We draw sixteenth notes with 2 flags or 2 beams, like this:



To count sixteenth notes, we have to count quarter-beats. We do this by inserting the letters e (pronounced "ee") and a (pronounced "uh" or "ah") between the beats and the "ands", like this:

| 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a | 1 e + a ...

Practicing


To get to where you can understand a rhythm by just looking at it, you need to practice reading and playing (or singing) lots of written music. We can't give you that practice in this theory course; you have to go do that yourself! Most people need help from a music teacher, at least occasionally, to make sure they're "on the right track".

Next: There's more you need to know to read rhythms; learn how we write "odd-length" (e.g. 2½- or 3-beat) notes in Lesson 39: Tied & Dotted Notes.


Lessons in Order

1-7 (Intro & Pitch) +
8-18 (Major Scale) +
19-29 (Chord Progressions) +
30-34 (Hook Chords) +
35-41 (Written Notes) -
38: Note Lengths
42-50 (Song Chorus) +

Lessons by Topic

Strategy +
Pitches +
Scales +
Written Notes +
38: Note Lengths
Chords +
Chord Progressions +
Melody +
Songwriting Steps +
Science +
Games & Tools +
Song Examples: Crazy +
Song Examples: Rolling Stone +

Detailed Contents

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