Note Value Chart
Every common note and rest, with how long it lasts, on one printable page. Beats are shown for 4/4 time, where a quarter note gets one beat.
Notes and rests
| Note | Rest | Name | Beats in 4/4 | How many fill a measure of 4/4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note Whole rest | 4 | 1 | ||
| Half note Half rest | 2 | 2 | ||
| Quarter note Quarter rest | 1 | 4 | ||
| Eighth note Eighth rest | ½ | 8 | ||
| Sixteenth note Sixteenth rest | ¼ | 16 |
Each note and rest lasts half as long as the one above it. A rest lasts exactly as long as the note it matches.
Dotted notes
A dot adds half the note’s value again. Dotted rests work the same way.
| Note | Name | Calculation | Beats in 4/4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dotted half note | 2 + 1 | 3 | |
| Dotted quarter note | 1 + ½ | 1½ | |
| Dotted eighth note | ½ + ¼ | ¾ |
How the notes divide
Each row below lasts the same length of time: one measure of 4/4.
1 whole note = 2 half notes = 4 quarter notes = 8 eighth notes = 16 sixteenth notes.
Telling them apart
| If you see… | It’s a… |
|---|---|
| A hollow note head with no stem | Whole note |
| A hollow note head with a stem | Half note |
| A filled note head with a stem | Quarter note |
| One flag (or one beam) | Eighth note |
| Two flags (or two beams) | Sixteenth note |
| A block hanging below a line | Whole rest |
| A block sitting on a line | Half rest |
| A dot just after the note head | Add half the value again |
- Beams join the stems of eighth and sixteenth notes that come in groups. They mean the same as flags: one beam for eighths, two for sixteenths.
- Stems can point up or down. The direction doesn’t change how long the note lasts.
- A whole rest on its own means a whole measure of silence, in any time signature.
In other time signatures
The note shapes never change, but the beat counts depend on the time signature’s bottom number:
- Bottom number 4 (2/4, 3/4, 4/4): the quarter note gets one beat, as in the chart above.
- Bottom number 8 (6/8): the eighth note gets one count, so every value counts double. A quarter note gets 2 counts and a dotted quarter gets 3.
- Bottom number 2 (2/2, cut time): the half note gets one beat, so every value counts half. A quarter note gets half a beat.
More: time signatures.
Learn more
- For a full explanation of each note, with examples, see music note values.
- Learn note lengths step by step in the How Long Is a Note? lesson.
- Write your own rhythms and hear them played back in Compose.