Note values chart

Every note value from the whole note to the sixteenth, with its rest, the dotted notes and triplets: how many beats each lasts in 4/4 and how to count it. Eighth notes are the commonest: 36 % of the 140,449 notes in the library's 366 pieces.

It prints on one page (Ctrl+P, or ⌘P on a Mac).

Note values: each note and its rest, its length in beats in 4/4, one bar of 4/4 counted, and its share of the notes in the library with the easiest piece that uses it
Note	Value, in 4/4	A bar of 4/4, counted out loud	Of all notes in the library · easiest piece with it
	Whole note4 beats	Count the beats.	0.9 %Children's Study, Op. 37 No. 2 level 2
	Half note2 beats	Count the beats.	4.9 %Gavotte level 2
	Quarter note1 beat	Count the beats.	22 %Gavotte level 2
	Eighth note½ beat	Count the beats and “&” between them.	36 %Gavotte level 2
	Sixteenth note¼ beat	Count “1 e & a” on every beat.	23 %Allegro in C, K. 1b level 2
Dotted notes: a dot adds half the note's length again
	Dotted half note3 beats2 beats + 1 beat	Count the beats.	1.6 %Deck the Halls level 2
	Dotted quarter note1½ beats1 beat + ½ beat	Count the beats and “&” between them.	2.4 %Deck the Halls level 2
	Dotted eighth note¾ beat½ beat + ¼ beat	Count “1 e & a” on every beat.	1.1 %Polska from Småland level 2
Triplets: three notes in the time of two
	Eighth-note triplet⅓ beat3 in the time of 2 eighths	Count each beat “1 trip let”.	4.1 %When the Saints Go Marching In level 3

Say the bold counts as you play, keep counting the grey ones while the note holds; the blue line under each bar is how long each note lasts.

One whole note, halved

Each value is half the one above it: one whole note lasts as long as sixteen sixteenth notes, and every row is 4 beats.

How to count

Quarter notes1 2 3 4: a number on every beat
Eighth notes1 & 2 &: “&” halfway through the beat
Triplets1 trip let 2 trip let: three even counts to the beat
Sixteenth notes1 e & a 2 e & a: “e” and “a” split each half beat again

A dot adds half the note's length again: a dotted half note is 3 beats, 2 beats and 1 beat more.

Note values chart, from clefsight.com/learn/note-values-chart. Tap these rhythms on a MIDI keyboard there and every note is checked against the beat.

What the library's music is made of

Counting every note printed in the library's 366 pieces, 140,449 in all (a chord counts each of its notes): eighth notes make 36 %, sixteenth notes make 23 % and quarter notes make 22 %. Together that is 81 %: real music moves mostly in quick notes, read a beamed group at a time, and whole notes are only 0.9 %.

The values on the chart cover 96 % of the notes. The other 3.6 % are thirty-second notes and shorter (1.7 %), sixteenth-note triplets (1.2 %), quarter-note triplets (0.3 %) and other dotted values and tuplets (0.3 %).

Of the 10,209 rests, the eighth rest is the commonest, 45 % of them. A whole rest also fills any bar that is silent from start to end, whatever its time signature.

Beats in other time signatures

The beats on this chart are 4/4's, where a quarter note is one beat; 3/4 and 2/4 count the same way, with three or two beats a bar. In 6/8 the beat is a dotted quarter note, split into three eighths: the time signatures guide shows how that counts.

Now count them at the keyboard. The rhythm drill shows 10 kinds of rhythm, two bars at a time; tap each on one key of a MIDI keyboard or the keys on screen, in time with the beat. Every tap is checked and goes on your reading map.

Start the rhythm drill

How to read it: How to read rhythm: note values, rests, dots and ties. Then how to read time signatures. The notes themselves: the piano notes chart.