What does a " . " after a note mean in standard music notation? Example: if you have an 1/8 note - then a " . " - then the linked 1/16th note. I wish I could write/draw it out.
Thanks,
Mike
A dot makes a note 50% longer.
If your time signature is 4/4 (or any other signature that makes a quarter note a beat), then a dotted eighth note will get three quarters of a beat. To count it, divide the beat into quarters: one-ee-and-ah. The dotted eighth/sixteenth figure would be played ONE-ee-and-AH.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Ok thanks... couldn't find any info on the net today and I was just thinking about it at work.
Hi,
Dots show up in a few places on scores. As Noteboat says, immediately after the note it means play it for half as long again as the standard note value. If the dot is underneath or above though it means play approximately the standard note but play it staccato ( Whether it's above or below depends on which way the tail is pointing). This might seem like a slight contradiction in terms, but it makes sense in the musical context.
You also see a dot in a sign called a fermata (often at the end) which is a dot and a half circle.
Chris
What?
Hoochie Coochie?
What does a " . " after a note mean in standard music notation? Example: if you have an 1/8 note - then a " . " - then the linked 1/16th note. I wish I could write/draw it out.
Thanks,
Mike
I know what you mean.
The (almost) entire finger picking pattern in Dust in the Wind is written that way.
I didn't even know you could link (tie?) an eighth note to a sixteenth note until I saw that.
But then my music reading knowledge is not exactly vast.
But that (Travis picking) is played so fast (for me anyway) I'm just concentrating on hitting the string in time; not concentrating so much on giving it the right amount of beats.
Besides, I know what it's supposed to sound like (Dust in the Wind) so I'm just trying to duplicate that.
The two notes are (probably) linked because they add up to 1 beat.
The dotted eighth note is given 3/4 of a beat; the sixteenth note is 1/4 of a beat.
So, it means to play the first note (3 times) longer than the second linked note - all within one beat.
(This is in #/4 timing - quarter note gets a beat; eighth note gets half a beat, sixteenth note gets 1/4 a beat, etc)
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Thanks for the info, it helped out. And I did enjoy the read on the Staccato and Fermata from Chris.
Thanks again,
Mike
