THE MUSICAL NOTES & RESTS

INTRO TO GENERAL MUSIC: HOW TO READ MUSIC

Of course, you can't play without being able to read the notes! The musical notes are a key component to composing & playing music. Without them, I don't even think that sheet music would even exist!

OK, there are actually many types of notes in music, but today, I'm just gonna teach you the basics to get you ready for guitar. So, there are 4 basic notes in music:

Now I don't have to go into too much detail in explaining these notes since they're already up there. But in 4/4 time, the whole note is worth 4 beats, the half note is 2 beats, the quarter note is 1 beat, and the eighth note is 1/2 beat. All these notes are basically worth half the amount of beats than the previous note. To draw these notes is also pretty simple, here:

Don't worry about that 16th note there, we aren't gonna use it in beginniner guitar :)

In music, we also have times when you don't play anything in either the right hand, left hand, or even both. Following these notes, we have some rests, which are used to indicate how long you don't have to play anything in the piece. For example, like the quarter note, there is a quarter rest. Instead of playing the note for 1 beat, the quarter rest tells you to not play for 1 beat.

Also keep in mind the difference between the symbol for a whole rest, and the symbol for a half rest. Just say the whole rest is a spit wad hanging from the ceiling (w for wad/whole) while the half rest is a top hat (h for hat/half).

Oh! And one more thing. There is also a dotted note/ rest. It can be any dotted note/rest; dooted half note, dotted quarter rest, etc. That's when the note/rest is 1/2 a beat longer than its normal value. For example, a dotted half note would mean that it would be 3 beats since 1/2 its beat (1 beat or a quarter note) is added to its original value.