Counting beats

Rhythm is about when a note starts and how long it lasts. Count steady beats out loud and every rhythm becomes easier.

The beat

Tap your foot to almost any song and you will find yourself tapping at an even speed. Those taps are the beat. The speed of the beat is the tempo, counted in beats per minute (bpm). At 60 bpm one beat lasts exactly one second, like a clock ticking. At 120 bpm each beat lasts half a second. Note lengths are measured in beats, not seconds, so the same piece can be played slower or faster without changing what is written.

Note lengths

Each note in the table lasts half as long as the one above it, apart from the dotted half note. A dot after a note adds half of its length again, so a dotted half note lasts 2 + 1 = 3 beats. The shapes tell you the length at a glance: a whole note is an open oval, a half note adds a stem, a quarter note is filled in, and an eighth note adds a small flag to the stem.

Silence is counted too. Every note length has a matching rest: a whole rest, a half rest, a quarter rest and an eighth rest, each worth the same number of beats as its note. Keep counting through a rest exactly as you would through a note, so the next note starts on time.

Bars and time signatures

Music is divided into bars (also called measures) by vertical lines on the staff. The two numbers at the start, the time signature, say how many beats each bar holds and which note gets one beat. In 4/4 time each bar holds four quarter-note beats. Count "1 2 3 4" and clap on each number. Eighth notes split a beat in two: "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and". In 3/4 time each bar has three beats, the feel of a waltz: "1 2 3, 1 2 3". The first beat of each bar usually feels a little stronger than the others.

Build a beat

Each row has 16 steps, four per beat, so one row is one bar of 4/4. The kick plays on beats 1 and 3, the snare on 2 and 4, and the hi-hat on every eighth note. This is the basic rock beat. Press Play, then add or remove steps and listen to how the feel changes.

Long and short notes on the keys

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star uses a traditional French melody from the 18th century. Its first line has six quarter notes and then a half note, twice: C C G G A A G, F F E E D D C. Count 1 2 3 4 as you play and hold each half note for two counts. The whole line adds up to 16 beats, exactly four bars of 4/4.