Alright cool. So there are also types of "rests" that are somewhat equivalent to the value of the notes. That might sound confusing, but I'll try to explain it.
A rest is basically a unit of time in which one doesn't play
anything. Basically if you have a chord, then there's a space (silence from that particular instrument) before the next chord, that space would contain a "rest", which would indicate how long the space of silence between notes is.
These are the most common rest values:
http://www.mibac.com/Pages/Theory/fr...20Symbols.html
They are parallel with their note values. For example, a "whole" rest takes up 4 beats, like a whole note would take up 4 beats. In 4/4 time, that's an entire measure, because there are 4 beats for one measure of 4/4 time.
Basically you'd count them like notes, except you don't play where the rests are.
Also you don't "tie" rests together like you do notes. They just don't exist. There's no need. So for example, if you need another half a beat to complete the measure or to fill the entire space of silence you need (which is also half a beat), just add another eighth rest.
The number of beats that rests take up can't be more than the amount of beats that there are in the measure.
So what does that mean?
Let's say you have a whole rest and a quarter rest (a quarter rest is the same amount of time as a quarter note, so one beat) within the same measure, that would be 5 beats in that measure (4 from the whole rest and 1 from the quarter rest). In 4/4 time that would be physically impossible because there can only be 4 beats per measure.
Anything exceeding 4 beats in one measure is notated incorrectly in 4/4 time.
If you're in 4/4 time, the number of beats plus the number of rests (and/or notes) must equal 4 beats. If they do not, then it's notated incorrectly.
so if you had....
An eighth rest, an eighth note, an eighth rest, an eighth note, a quarter note and a quarter rest, that would be 4 beats.
Eighth rest = 1/2 a beat
Eighth note = 1/2 a beat
Quarter rest = 1 beat
Quarter note = 1 beat
so 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1 + 1 = 4. That sequence would be notated correctly.
If you had...
An eighth rest, an eighth note, an eighth rest, an eighth note, and only 1 quarter note, you'd have 3 beats.
Eighth rest = 1/2 a beat
Eighth note = 1/2 a beat
Quarter note = 1 beat
So right now with THAT sequence it's 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1 = 3. Because it's 3, that means that it's notated incorrectly, because it needs a total of 4 beats. The measure is missing a beat in 4/4 time. If we were in 3/4 time, it would be perfect because 3/4 has 3 beats like the current sequence does. So to make this current measure complete, we would need a combination of note/rest values that add up to 1 beat. There are thousands of different combinations that can be used to make up 1 beat.
For different time signatures, there are slightly different rules. In 3/4 time, you'd need to have a combination of notes and/or rests that add up to exactly 3 beats, and in 2/4 you'd need to have a combination of notes and/or rests that add up to exactly 2 beats. Very similar to 4/4 and a very easy transition.
Here is a piece of notated music that's 100% correct:
http://cdn-viper.demandvideo.com/med...c5b6f1a2_2.jpg
Notice this measure even has the beats counted out for you so that you can see how this measure is made up correctly.
Alright so let's look at two more things that we haven't covered, then we can get onto the 6/8 time signature, and then we can start strumming patterns and rhythm patterns for scales and solos. After that, if you guys want me to go over them, we could do odd time signatures. But unless you want to cover classical music, progressive music (70's progressive or maybe even metal), or just weird music, odd time signatures might not be super useful to you.
So the last thing before we move on...
Dotted notes and rests. You've probably seen them. These are all of them and what they mean:
http://musicsandbox2425.wikispaces.c...otes_chart.GIF
Here's a page that shows a few equivalencies:
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb...4-2EAEB7E3.gif
Here's another one:
http://www.guitarland.com/Music10/Mu...ifs/Dotted.GIF
So, what does the dot in front of the note/rest mean? Basically, it's the value of whatever the current note is, plus you add on half of it's value.
So a dotted-eighth note basically means it's the value of the eighth note plus half of it. If an eighth note is 1/2 of a beat, then half of that is 1/4 of a beat (equal to 1 sixteenth note). So a dotted eighth note is 1/2 a beat plus a quarter of a beat, so 3/4 of a beat. A dotted eighth note is equal to an eighth note tied to a sixteenth note.
This can be seen in one of the equivalencies charts that I posted.
The dotted quarter note is also in the equivalencies charts. I'm going to talk a little more into detail about this note because it's important in the next post.
Basically a dotted quarter note is equivalent to tying a quarter note to an eighth note. So basically it's worth a 1 and 1/2 beats.
Rests work the exact same way as dotted notes do, in terms of how long they are with dots.
Only two notes have dots that add up to beats evenly: The dotted half note/rest and the dotted whole note/rest.
The dotted half note is a half note (2 beats) plus the value of half of it (1 beat), which is 3 beats. If you have a dotted half note, it's equal to 3 beats. It would take up 3/4 of a measure in 4/4 time, an entire measure in 3/4 time, and is not possible in 2/4 time. A dotted half note is equivalent to a half note and a quarter note tied together, 3 quarter notes tied together, etc.
The dotted whole note is basically a whole note (4 beats), plus half of its value (2), which come out to a single dotted whole note being worth
6 beats. This type of note is not found in 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 (because those time signatures can't contain 6 beats). Instead, if the composer or artists wanted a note to cover 6 beats, they would probably have a whole note, tied over a measure into the next one by a half note. This can also be found in the equivalencies chart that I posted. While we really won't go over it, you can also find a dotted whole note in 6/4 time. 6/4 time is basically a measure that has 6 beats, and the quarter note gets the value of a single beat. You could also think of it as 4/4 time with an extra two beats.
There's also one more important thing we haven't covered yet: triplets. Basically you'll see them notated something like this:
http://ecmc.rochester.edu/ecmc/docs/score11/Fig01.gif
A triplet is basically 3 evenly spaced notes that are equal to a unit of time in regular time signatures such as 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4. If you double the time value of a single note in the triplet, that will tell you how much time the triplet takes up.
What does this mean? Basically, it means if you have a quarter note, and you make a triplet of quarter notes, they are equal in
time to a half note. 1 quarter note is equal to 1 beat. Double 1 beat is 2 beats. If you play a triplet of quarter notes, it will take up two beats. It's 3 evenly spaced notes over two beats.
Eighth note triplets are a little more common that quarter note triplets, so I'll talk about those quickly. Basically, it's 3 evenly spaced notes over the course of one beat. So for every beat there would be 3 evenly spaced notes. How do we know this? Use the rule I taught you. Double the amount of the eighth note from the triplet is a quarter note, which is equal to one beat. 3 evenly spaced eighth notes in one beat.
I would DEFINITELY listen and watch this video. It could be the most important video I've posted about rhythm. You will hear what eighth note triplets actually sound like in context to a beat (or music), and you will hear what other values sound like as well. It's in 4/4 time, which is fine, but I will post songs and other things in other time signatures eventually:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Siowg...eature=related
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Alright so here's what you should know by the end of this very long lesson:
- All the different note values (whole notes through sixteenth notes)
- What it means to "tie" multiple notes together
- How to count in 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4
- The number of possible beats in a measure
- What rests are
- What dotted notes and dotted rests are
- How to properly notate the correct amount of notes/rests in a measure
- What triplets are and how to count them
That is a lot of stuff to know over the course of two lessons, so if you have any questions let me know. I'm sure some of you might already know a lot of this, it would not surprise me, considering it's the basics. If nobody has any questions, I'll move onto the next thing.
Please read the list I posted above and make sure you have all those things down.