Here are note values explained the simple way: a note value tells you how long a note lasts relative to the beat, not its pitch. In common 4/4 time, a whole note fills a whole bar, a half note lasts two beats, and a quarter note lasts one beat. Get those three in your head and everything else divides neatly from there.
If you can already feel a steady pulse, you can count note values. Tap a slow, even beat and call each tap “1, 2, 3, 4.” Each tap is one quarter note. Everything below is just that pulse being grouped or split.
The core note values
In 4/4 time (four quarter-note beats per bar), the main values halve as you go down the list:
- Whole note (semibreve) — 4 beats. One per bar of 4/4.
- Half note (minim) — 2 beats. Two per bar.
- Quarter note (crotchet) — 1 beat. Four per bar.
- Eighth note (quaver) — half a beat. Eight per bar; count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.”
- Sixteenth note (semiquaver) — a quarter of a beat. Sixteen per bar; count “1 e and a, 2 e and a.”
Each step down doubles the number of notes that fit in the same space. That doubling is the whole system. A thirty-second note simply halves the sixteenth again, and so on.
How they look on the staff
The shape of the notehead and stem tells you the value. A whole note is an open oval with no stem. A half note is an open oval with a stem. A quarter note is a filled oval with a stem. Eighth notes add one flag (or one beam when joined), sixteenths add two flags or two beams. When you see notes beamed together in groups, the number of beams tells you whether they are eighths, sixteenths or smaller. If you are still learning to recognise these on the page, our guide on how to read sheet music walks through the staff step by step.
Dotted notes and ties
A dot after a note adds half of that note’s value. So a dotted half note lasts 2 + 1 = 3 beats, and a dotted quarter lasts 1 + ½ = 1½ beats. Dotted rhythms are everywhere in pop and folk — the dotted-quarter-then-eighth feel drives countless choruses.
A tie joins two notes of the same pitch into one sustained sound. A half note tied to a quarter note lasts three beats, just like a dotted half, but ties let you carry a note across a barline where a single symbol could not. Both are tools for holding sound longer than one note shape allows.
Rests: the silence has values too
Every note value has a matching rest of the same length — whole rest, half rest, quarter rest, eighth rest and so on. Silence is part of rhythm, not a gap in it. Counting rests out loud (or in your head) keeps you in time. A bar of 4/4 must always add up to four beats whether those beats are sound or silence.
Counting a bar of 4/4
Try this slowly. Set a metronome at a gentle tempo and play one note on each click — those are quarter notes. Then play two even notes per click for eighth notes, then four even notes per click for sixteenths. Hearing the same beat subdivided is how note values stop being abstract. This skill feeds directly into ear training, where you learn to identify rhythms and pitches by sound.
Note values also depend on the bottom number of your time signature, which tells you which note value gets one beat. In 4/4 the quarter note is the beat; in 6/8 the eighth note is counted, so the same symbols are grouped and felt differently. And once syncopation enters, you place notes on the offbeats between those counts — see what syncopation is for more.
Frequently asked questions
What is a note value in music?
A note value is the duration of a note — how long it sounds — relative to the beat. It is separate from pitch (how high or low the note is). The same pitch can be a quarter note in one place and a whole note in another.
How many beats is a quarter note?
In 4/4 time, a quarter note lasts one beat, so four quarter notes fill a bar. The “quarter” means a quarter of a whole note. In other time signatures the beat may be a different value, but in common time the quarter note equals one beat.
What does a dot after a note do?
A dot increases the note’s length by half its original value. A dotted half note (2 beats) becomes 3 beats, and a dotted quarter (1 beat) becomes 1½ beats. A second dot would add half again of the first dot’s value.
