Im learning about notation currently and understand a little about how to write down notes but i cant figure out how long a note actually is when playing it. If I was to pick a note or a chord on my guitar how would It actually be in terms of real time? Would I have to count for a second, would 4 sixteenth notes be strummed quickly to fit in a second?
Notes are relative measures... as in relative to each other, not to a stopwatch.
You can look at a whole note and say "that's four times as long as a quarter note", but that doesn't tell you how long it lasts.
To figure out how long, you need to know two other things:
1. The tempo (the number of beats per minute)
2. The note that represents one beat
Tempo is given by either MM=x or bpm=x. MM stands for Maelzel's Metronome; bpm is often used instead, especially by tabbers.
The note that represents the beat is given by the time signature. If you're in 4/4 time, it's a quarter note, 3/16 time is a sixteenth note, 7/8 time is an eighth note, etc.
So in 4/4, MM=60, there are four sixteenth notes per second.... but in 3/16 MM=120 there are only two.
Make sense?
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Tempo is also often noted with a little picure of a note to tell you which note value equals one beat, than an equals sign and the number of beats per minute. That's my favorite way to do it, since I don't have to wonder whether I was thinking of the proper note value when I chose my time signature after I forget the tempo and come back to the song.
How would I right down a chord, since it is more than one note at the same time would I write the required notes on top of eachother?
How would I right down a chord, since it is more than one note at the same time would I write the required notes on top of eachother?
Yes, you would just write the different notes of the chord in the same column vertically on the staff.
They should all share the same stem.
Tempo is also often noted with a little picure of a note to tell you which note value equals one beat, than an equals sign and the number of beats per minute. That's my favorite way to do it, since I don't have to wonder whether I was thinking of the proper note value when I chose my time signature after I forget the tempo and come back to the song.
I prefer to see it this way, too.
A :-)
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