Beats and Tempo
Basic explanation of bars/measures, common time signatures, and note durations. Placeholders are left for images of each measure or note. You can fill the empty columns with icons or staff notation later.
Bars / Time Signatures
Time signatures tell you how many beats are in a bar (measure) and which note value counts as one beat. The top number is how many beats; the bottom number shows which note gets the beat (4 means a quarter note, 8 an eighth note). The examples below include standard signatures.
| Time Signature | Common Name / Notes | Beats per Measure | Beat Unit | Equivalent in Quarter-Note Beats | Typical Feel / Example | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/4 | Duple | 2 | Quarter note | 2 quarter beats | March, faster duple feel |  |
| 4/4 | Common time | 4 | Quarter note | 4 quarter beats | Pop, rock, most western music |  |
| 6/8 | Compound duple | 6 | Eighth note | 3 quarter beats (grouped as 2 strong beats of 3) | Jig, rolling feel |  |
| 12/8 | quadruple time | 6 | Twelfth note (division of whole into 12 parts) | 6 quarter beats (grouped as 4 strong beats of 3) | Very fine subdivision; used in advanced notation |  |
| 3/4 | Waltz time | 3 | Quarter note | 3 quarter beats | Waltz, graceful triple |  |
| 5/4 | Odd meter | 5 | Quarter note | 5 quarter beats | βTake Fiveβ style |  |
Note Durations
This table lists common note values from whole note down to sixty-fourth, showing their relative lengths assuming a quarter note equals 1 beat (as in 4/4).
| Note Name | Symbol / Text | Duration in Beats | Fraction of Whole Note | Typical Notation | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | π or "1" | 4 | 1 | Open oval, no stem |  |
| Half note | π or "1/2" | 2 | 1/2 | Open oval with stem |  |
| Quarter note | π or "1/4" | 1 | 1/4 | Filled oval with stem |  |
| Eighth note | π or "1/8" | 1/2 | 1/8 | Flag or beam |  |
| Sixteenth note | π ‘ or "1/16" | 1/4 | 1/16 | Double flag or beam |  |
| Thirty-second note | π ’ or "1/32" | 1/8 | 1/32 | Triple flag or beam |  |
| Sixty-fourth note | π £ or "1/64" | 1/16 | 1/64 | Quadruple flag or beam |  |
Dotted versions add half of the value (dotted quarter = 1 + 0.5 = 1.5 beats). Triplets divide a beat into three equal parts instead of two.
Tempo
Tempo tells how fast the music is moving and is usually measured in beats per minute (BPM). If the beat is a quarter note and the tempo is 120 BPM, then there are 120 quarter-note beats in one minute. To calculate the duration of any note:
Duration in ms = (60,000 / BPM) Γ (note's fraction of a quarter note)
Examples at 120 BPM:
- Quarter note: 500 ms
- Half note: 1,000 ms
- Eighth note: 250 ms
- Sixteenth note: 125 ms