- How many notes are there in music?
- What are the 7 pitch names?
- What are the 5 main notes?
- Also, check out our post on what is a measure.
Musical notes make up a musician’s vocabulary and play a vital role in how musical ideas can be interpreted, communicated, and recorded.
This musical alphabet exists internationally and applies to any instrument or role within the creation or performance of music.
Due to this, you could fathom how an understanding of musical notes and their values could be of many benefits to your production and performance skills. This article will serve as an introduction to the world of musical notes in 2023.
The Staff
A single note on the staff “also referred to as the stave” contains a load of information:
- Where a note is positioned horizontally on the staff indicates the note’s timing. The circled note starts on beat two.
- Where a note is positioned vertically on the staff indicates the note’s pitch. The circled note is an A.
- The type of note indicates the duration of the note. The circled note is half and therefore is held for two beats.
Notes
There are seven note names in Western music: A through G. Each note can be raised or lowered in pitch by a semitone creating twelve different pitches per octave.
There are five basic note types: whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth. The duration of each note can be increased by fifty percent by adding a dot after the note.
In brief, this covers just about every attribute of the note in standard musical notation: the timing, the pitch, and the duration.
The Time Signature
The time signature determines a note’s duration and timing. The time signature tells us how many beats are in each measure and what type of note gets the beat.
If that results in any confusion you can use this sentence to help read the time signature. In 4/4 time, you would say, “There are “four” “quarter” notes per measure.” If the time signature is 6/8, you would say, “There are “six” “eighth” notes per measure.”
The top number tells us how many notes are in each measure. The bottom number tells us what type of note.
This does not mean that there are exactly four quarter notes in each measure. It means that whatever notes and rests are in the measure, they will equal the duration of four quarter notes.
The Key Signature
The key signature tells us what key the song is in. Above is an F sharp and a C sharp in the key signature. That means we are in the key of D major or B minor. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means yet.
Just know that each piece of music will contain the clef symbol–in this case, the treble clef–followed by the key signature–in this case, D or B minor–and ending with the time signature–in this case, six-eight time.
Now we will put all of this together:
Let’s Start With the Pitch
Here are the notes on the staff:
You can learn the notes on the spaces by memorizing the word “FACE.” The notes on the lines can be learned by memorizing the acronym: “Every Good Boy Does Fine.”
- A “sharp” sign raises the pitch of a note by a semitone. The F becomes an F sharp.
- A “flat” sign lowers the pitch of a note by a semitone. The B becomes a B flat.
- A semitone is the smallest interval in Western music. On a guitar fretboard, it is the distance from one fret to the next fret on the same string. On a piano, it is the distance from one piano key to the next piano key. The words semitone and half step can be used interchangeably.
Ledger lines are used to notate notes above or below the staff:
All these rules apply to the bass clef, but now you have a new set of notes to memorize:
The C below the treble clef and the C above the bass clef indicates the same pitch–C at 256 hertz, commonly called middle C.
Note Types
The Whole Note
Listen to the example above while looking at the provided musical notation.
There are five basic note types. In 4/4 time, there are four beats per measure. A whole note is held for four beats. Therefore, it takes up the entire measure.
The whole note above is played on beat one of the first measure and is held until just before beat one of the second.
The Half Note
In the second measure, there are two half notes. A half note in 4/4 time takes up two beats.
The first half note is played on the beat “one” of the second measure and held until just before beat three. The second half note is played on beat three and held until just before beat one of the third measure.
The Quarter Note
Each of the four quarter notes in the third measure takes up one beat, each being played on each beat.
The Eighth Note
In the fourth measure, there are eight eighth notes. Two eighth notes are played in each beat. An eighth note looks like a quarter note with an added flag on the stem. The notes are often joined together with a beam for ease of reading.
The Sixteenth Note
In 4/4 time, there are four sixteenth notes in every beat–sixteen in every measure. A sixteenth note has two flags, and when grouped together, they have two beams.
At this point, I hope you have seen that note type has nothing to do with when the note is played but with how long the note is held. i.e., its duration.
Listening to the provided example while reading along using the above notation will be a good learning tool to get you started.
The Dotted Note
If a whole note takes up four beats and a half note takes up two beats, what note takes up three beats?
The dotted half note.
Consider the following example:
Notice how the dot adds one beat of duration to the half note, making it last for three beats rather than two.
A dot added to a note increases its duration by fifty percent.
The Dotted Quarter Note
Supplementary Information
Okay, we have introduced several new concepts, but they build upon what you have already learned.
- Notice that we are no longer in 4/4 time. The time signature here is 3/4. The quarter note still gets beat, meaning it is where your foot will be tapping. It is where you will hear the hi-hat in the above recording, which will line up with the numerals 1, 2, and 3 in the notation above.
- Also, notice that there are only three beats per measure, so you will count to three repeatedly instead of four. 3/4 time sounds like a waltz. Think of the Christmas song “My Favorite Things” or “Take It To The Limit” by The Eagles.
- We won’t be getting into every element of basic music theory in this article, but you should take note of the key signature. There is a flat sign over the B line. This means that we are in the key of “F.” Every time a B note is played, it will be a B flat unless otherwise indicated.
- And lastly, when we count eighth notes in 3/4 time, we say “1 & 2 & 3 &, 1 & 2 & 3 &”. 1, 2, and 3 will be spoken on each downbeat. The word “and” will be spoken on each upbeat or offbeat, meaning the eight notes that do not fall on the beat.
Before moving forward, you may want to review these four points again. Basic music theory often requires you to apply certain principles that may take some time to make perfect sense so it is best to not overanalyze these ideas “at least in the beginning”.
Back to the Article
Five of the measures above begin with a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth note. The dotted quarter note is held for a beat and a half. The dot adds fifty percent of the note’s value, which would be one beat long without the dot.
Notice how the eighth note in each measure falls on the “and” of 2. Tap your finger on your desk while listening and reading along, and you will find that each of these eighth notes occurs while your finger is not tapping. it will be in the “up” position.
in the measures where the eighth note is on the first beat, the dotted eighth note begins on the “and” of the first beat, and the following note falls on the downbeat of beat three.
This is an excellent example for you to listen and read along to understand how a dotted eighth note works.
Final Thoughts
I hope this article serves as an introduction to the world of notes in music. Every language has an alphabet comprising words, phrases, and sentences. The alphabet of music is notes.
Understanding notes, their values, and their pitches are only one aspect of basic music theory.
The next step is to take the examples in this article and play them on your guitar, piano, or harmonica. All the examples are monophonic, so you can play them on any instrument.
If you want to learn more, decide what instrument to play and take private lessons or join an online school.
After all, music should be enjoyed by everybody with no barriers.
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