Notes, notes, notes

So far, we have learned how there are (typically) 4 beats to a bar. Now lets take this a step further and talk about notes.

Notes are symbols that tell you how long to hold a musical sound.

Here is a chart that shows you different kinds of notes:


What you are looking at is one bar and the number of each type of note that will fit into one bar.

Quick review: how many beats fit into one bar? OK, so which kind of note do you think is equal to one beat?

So, then if you can count quarter notes as "1, 2, 3, 4", how do you think you can count eighth notes?

Try, "1 and, 2 and, 3 and, 4 and"

How about 16th notes? It's kind of weird, but this is what most people do:

"1 -e-and-a, 2-e-and-a, 3-e-and-a, 4-e-and-a"

Feeling lost? Don't worry about it. Here's the main thing you need to understand right now:

Quarter notes happen on the beat (1,2,3,4) and you can squeeze four 16th notes into each quarter note.

With that in mind, take another look at the note chart and pay attention to where the quarter notes line up with the sixteenth notes:

Now let's see what that means for making a beat in Reason...