Learn The Rhythms First: Part 1

Sight-reading is basically two elements rolled into one.

• The Note/Pitch
• The Rhythm and duration of the Note in question.

This lesson will eliminate the Note/Pitch side of things and focus only on the Rhythms. This
way when you get to, in my opinion, the tricky part - the pitch, you have one less thing to
worry about.

These Lessons on Rhythm will be broken up into 2 parts, Time Signatures and Rhythms.

Time Signatures
A Time Signature lets the reader know what time the piece of music is in; for example, how
many beats each bar has.

On the Staff, the Time Signature appears to the right of the Clef, before the Key Signature.
The following example is in the Key of G Major and the Time Signature is 4/4, which means
there are 4 beats in the Bar. This is the most common Time Signature in Western Popular
Music and can be heard in most of your favorite tunes on the radio.

Once you have established and understood the concept of Time Signature, the next step is
to work out how you want to subdivide the Notes within that bar or series of bars. We will
also be looking at Rests, as they are just as important as the Notes themselves. Without rests,
there would just be noise.

The most common rhythms used, and the ones we’ll be looking at first are Whole Notes,
Half Notes, Quarter Notes, Eight Notes and Sixteenth Notes.
  

In the following examples, I’ll be demonstrating how and what these Note Durations and
Rests mean.

Whole Note - Whole Note Rest

In a Bar with a time Signature of 4/4, a Whole Note or a Whole Note Rest represents and fills
the bar completely. A Whole Note or a Whole Note Rest is equal to 4 beats.

Here is an example of a Whole Note Rest and a Whole Note.

Example 1

Half Note - Half Note Rest

In a Bar with a time Signature of 4/4 Half Notes or Half Note Rests, when used within a bar
will occupy half of the duration. A Half Note or Half Note Rest is equal to two beats.

Here is an example of two Half Note Rests and two Half Notes, within one bar.

Example 2

Quarter Note - Quarter Note Rest

In a Bar with a time Signature of 4/4, Quarter Notes or Quarter Note Rests, when used within
a bar will occupy a quarter of the duration. A Quarter Note or a Quarter Note Rest is equal to
1 beat.

Here is an example of four Quarter Note Rests and four Quarter Notes, within one bar.
  

Example 3

Eighth Note - Eighth Note Rest

In a Bar with a time Signature of 4/4 Eighth Notes or Eighth Note Rests when used within a
bar will occupy an eighth of the duration. An Eighth Note and an Eighth Note Rest are ½ a
beat.
Here is an example of 8 Eighth Note Rests and 8 Eighth Notes within one bar.

Example 4

Sixteenth Note - Sixteenth Note Rest

In a Bar with a time Signature of 4/4, Sixteenth Notes or Sixteenth Note Rests, when used
within a bar will occupy a Sixteenth of the duration. A Sixteenth Note and a Sixteenth Note
Rest are ¼ of a beat.

Here is an example of 16 Sixteenth Note Rests and 16 Sixteenth Notes, within one bar.

Example 5
  

The durations can get larger (for example: 32nd notes, 64th notes), but are much less
common. So, for now we will focus only up to 16th Notes.

In a bar of 4/4, when we break it down, there is 1 Whole Note, 2 Half Notes, 4 Quarter Notes,
8 Eighth Notes and 16 Sixteenth Notes.

We can mathematically subdivide these Rhythms into any order we like.

Example 6