BEHIND THE BARS

INTRO TO GENERAL MUSIC: HOW TO READ MUSIC

Notice how there are the two vertical lines standing in between the lines of the grand staff in each section. Those are called measures. These are used to measure how many beats are in per measure. This is so that the composed piece is divided to have perfectly equal counts per measure. Notes are written in these measures on order to compose a song! In complex songs, measures are great to use to know when you play a note; on any instrument! There can be many measures in a song, even up to 32 or more! They all depend on the time signature and have to line up just right!

Now, that you have learned the musical alphabet, staff, accidentals, and signatures of written music, don't think that it's all done! There's still much more to learn in reading sheet music to get you ready for guitar!

So, in this section, we're going to learn behind the bars of music... Oooo... Awesome right? These bars include measures, double bar lines, and repeating bar lines. Here, take a look at this picture to get you started:

Next, we have the double bar lines. So you're playing a song with any instrument of your choice. Your skill is awesome; until now. There's absolutely nothing to tell you when your song ends! What??? That's when the double bar line comes into action. The double bar line heroically saves the day by marking itself at the end of a musical piece so you know when to stop playing! YAY!!! It's not the end of the world!!! *Derpy face*

Double Bar Line

(Ends song/tells you to stop playing)

MEASURES

Last but not least, we have the repeated bar line. The repeated bar line looks similar to the double bar line except for the fact that it has 2 additional dots in front of it. Plus, the repeated bar line can not only be added at the end of a piece, but also in different sections within the piece. When it is put at the end of a song, it represents that the whole song must be played again/repeated one more time. If the repeated bar line is added within a section of the song, it means that only that one section must be repeated again; afterward, you can move on to the next measures of your piece. See the examples below for a visual understanding: