Note values and rests

A note's shape tells you how long it lasts relative to the beat. Nothing here is measured in seconds — that is what tempo is for. Double the tempo and every value halves, together.

Note	Name	Length	Rest
𝅝	Whole note	4 beats	𝄻
𝅗𝅥	Half note	2 beats	𝄼
𝅘𝅥	Quarter note	1 beat	𝄽
𝅘𝅥𝅮	Eighth note	½ beat	𝄾
𝅘𝅥𝅯	Sixteenth note	¼ beat	𝄿

Reading the shapes

The distinctions are small and deliberate:

• Hollow head, no stem — whole note.
• Hollow head with a stem — half note.
• Filled head with a stem — quarter note.
• Filled head, stem, one flag — eighth note.
• Two flags — sixteenth.

When eighths or sixteenths sit next to each other, their flags are replaced by beams — the horizontal bars joining them. A beam is purely visual; it changes nothing about the durations. Beaming is grouped to show where the beats fall, which is what makes beamed rhythms easier to read than a row of separate flags.

Rests work identically

Every note value has a rest of the same length. A bar of silence in 4/4 is a whole rest; a beat of silence is a quarter rest. Rests are not gaps in the notation — they are notated, counted and as much a part of the rhythm as the notes.

Dotted notes

A dot after a note adds half of its own value.

• Dotted half = 2 + 1 = 3 beats
• Dotted quarter = 1 + ½ = 1½ beats
• Dotted eighth = ½ + ¼ = ¾ of a beat

The dotted quarter followed by an eighth is one of the most common figures in all of music. Recognise it as a shape rather than doing the arithmetic each time.

A second dot adds half of the first dot's value again, but you will meet that far less often.

Ties

A tie is a curved line joining two notes of the same pitch. They become one sound lasting the combined length.

Ties exist because bar lines are non-negotiable. A note lasting six beats in a 4/4 piece cannot be written as one symbol across a bar line, so it is written as a whole note tied to a half note.

Do not confuse a tie with a slur, which looks similar but connects different pitches and means play them smoothly.

Triplets

A triplet fits three notes into the space normally taken by two. Three eighth-note triplets occupy one quarter-note beat. They are marked with a small 3, usually with a bracket.

Every shape on this page is drawn side by side in the notes and rests section of the music symbols dictionary. For how note values fit together with clefs, keys and time signatures on a real page, see how to read sheet music.