Find the beat
The beat is the steady pulse you tap your foot to. Before reading any rhythm, practice keeping a beat: tap along to recordings, walk in time, or count "one, two, three, four" with a metronome. Players who can hold a steady beat sound better than players who play every note right but drift in time.
Note and rest values
In the most common time signature, four-four, the values work like this:
| Note | Beats in four-four | Count it as |
|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
| Half note | 2 | 1 2 |
| Quarter note | 1 | 1 |
| Eighth note | Half a beat | 1 and |
| Sixteenth note | A quarter of a beat | 1 e and a |
Each note value has a matching rest, a symbol for silence of the same length. A dot after a note adds half its value, so a dotted half note lasts three beats. A tie joins two notes into one longer sound.
Time signatures
The two numbers at the start of a piece are the time signature. The top number says how many beats are in each bar. The bottom number says which note gets one beat, and a 4 there means the quarter note.
- Four-four has four quarter-note beats per bar. Most pop, rock and folk songs use it.
- Three-four has three beats per bar, the feel of a waltz.
- Two-four has two beats per bar, common in marches.
- Six-eight has six eighth notes per bar, usually felt as two groups of three.
Count out loud
Counting aloud feels awkward for adults at first, but it works. Say the counts while you clap a rhythm, then while you play it. On wind and brass instruments, where your mouth is busy, count aloud while fingering the notes silently, then count in your head while you play.
Use a metronome without fighting it
- Set a slow tempo, slow enough that the passage feels easy.
- Listen to a bar of clicks before you start, counting along.
- Play the passage, aiming to land notes on the click.
- When you can play it cleanly three times in a row, raise the tempo by a few beats per minute.
- If it falls apart, drop back to the last tempo that worked.
Some players find a click on every beat tiring. Try setting it to click only on beats two and four, or once per bar, once you are steady. Playing along with recordings also builds a sense of time.
Short rhythm drills
- Clap the rhythm of a new piece before you play it.
- Play a single note or chord in different rhythms from a page of exercises.
- Tap the beat with your foot while you clap a rhythm with your hands.
- Read a line of rhythm from a book each session, as part of your practice routine.