Note value

The written duration of a note, from whole note down through half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth and shorter subdivisions.

Note value describes how long a note lasts relative to the beat, not how high or low it is, and the shapes carry the information: hollow and stemless for a whole note, hollow with a stem for a half, filled with a stem for a quarter, and flags or beams for eighths and sixteenths. Guitarists meet the same idea in tab as spacing and as rhythmic stems. Understanding note values is what allows a rhythm pattern to be read, counted and reproduced accurately instead of guessed from a recording.

Example: A bar filled with four evenly spaced notes in common time is written as four quarter notes.

Note value

See also