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The Quarter Note

What is a Quarter note?

A quarter note is a note that, in a 4/4 time signature, receives 1 beat. In the 4/4 time signature, there are 4 beats per measure, so one quarter note takes up one quarter of a measure.

Identifying a Quarter note

A quarter note looks like this:

The Half Note

What is a Half note?

A half note is a note that, in a 4/4 time signature, receives 2 beats. In the 4/4 time signature, there are 4 beats per measure, so one half note takes up one half of a measure (2 out of the 4 beats.)

Identifying a Half note

A half note looks like this:

The Whole Note

What is a Whole note?

A whole note is a note that, in a 4/4 time signature, receives 4 beats. In the 4/4 time signature, there are 4 beats per measure, so one whole note takes up one whole measure!

Identifying a Whole note

A whole note looks like this:

The Eighth Note

What is an Eighth note?

An eighth note is a note that, in a 4/4 time signature, receives ½ beat. In the 4/4 time signature, there are 4 beats (8 half-beats) per measure, so one eighth note takes up one eighth of a measure.

Identifying a Quarter note

A quarter note looks like this:

“The Dot”

What is a dot?

For music notes, a dot increases a note’s value by ½ of its original value.

Identifying a “Dotted” note

Almost any note can be dotted. A dotted note may look like this:

Or this… Or this…

Understanding Note Relations

How they all relate

This diagram will help to explain how these notes compare to each other.

= = =1 whole note= 2 half notes= 4 quarter notes= 8 eighth

notes

Congratulations!

You have just taken the first step into reading music! Knowing the number of beats each note gets can help you to play and read music!