Basic Music Notation

Recognizing Notes

This is a whole note, this means that the note will last for a whole bar.

This is a half note, two of these make up a bar.

This is a quarter note, 4 of these make up a bar.

This is an eighth note, 8 of these make up a bar.

This is a sixteenth note, 16 of these make up a bar.

There are also thirty second note and even sixty fourth notes. These different notes let you know how quickly the note is played, a whole note meaning the note is held down for a whole bar and the sixteenth note meaning that the note is mearly pressed and not held, these are commonly used for melodies when notes are played fast.

These notes will appear on a stave. A stave is simply 5 horizontal lines and the notes are places either on or between these lines.

These lines represent the actual notes that will be played, the lower down on the lines the note is placed, the lower the note, the higher the note is placed, the higher the note. The symbol at the start of the stave is called a treble clef as shown above, this means that the notes placed on this stave will be played on the right half of the piano. When the left half of the piano is required, a bass clef will be used, which looks like this: