How to read time signatures

A time signature is the two numbers at the start of the music, after the clef and key. The top number says how many beats are in each bar; the bottom number says which note value gets one beat.

The two numbers

4/4: four beats a bar, each a quarter note. Count “1 2 3 4”.
3/4: three beats a bar, each a quarter note. Count “1 2 3”.
6/8: six eighth notes a bar, felt as two beats of three, so each beat is a dotted quarter note. Count “1 & a 2 & a”.

Two bars in 4/4: four quarter notes, then a half note and two quarter notes — 4/4: four quarter-note beats in every bar

Two bars in 3/4: three quarter notes, then a half note and a quarter note — 3/4: three beats, the feel of a waltz

Two bars in 6/8: two dotted quarter notes, then six eighth notes beamed in threes — 6/8: two beats of three eighths

Bars and bar lines

Bar lines cut the music into bars, and every bar holds exactly what the time signature says, counting notes, dots, ties and rests together. That makes a bar a check on your reading: if your count doesn't come out at four in 4/4, a value was misread. The first beat of each bar is the strongest; feeling it is what keeps a piece from drifting.

The trap

3/4 and 6/8 both hold six eighth notes a bar, but they don't feel the same: 3/4 is three beats of two eighths (“1 & 2 & 3 &”), 6/8 is two beats of three (“1 & a 2 & a”). Look at the bottom number and at how the eighths are beamed: in 6/8 they come in threes.

Now read them. A drill of the 6 rhythms and times in this guide: tap each card's rhythm on one key, of a MIDI keyboard or the keys on screen, in time. Every answer is checked against the beat and goes on your reading map.

Start the drill

Next: How to read chords: triads, inversions and sevenths