Can someone explain a triplet to me?

a triplet is the third baby born at the same time. 8)

And the 3rd baby is born generally after picking 3 really fast notes on one beat of time.

a triplet is the third baby born at the same time. 8)

If they were all born at the same time, how could you number them!!! :evil:

*listens to a random 80's metal CD and does the math in his head*

....THAS' A LOTTA BABIES! :shock:

a triplet are 3 notes in one beat. for ex.

________________________________
4_________________________________
_____|_|_|__|_|_|___|_|_|___|_|_|____
4___o_o_o__o_o_o__o_o_o__o_o_o____
_________________________________

thats one measure.
4 beats, but 12 notes... thats the best i could explain it.

Tom Serb posted a real good lesson on timing which includes as nice paragraph (with illustrations) on Triplets. Find it here:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=461

Not sure if this is helpful but I think of Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill for describing triplets. For me I need to hear it rather than see it written down. There are thousands of examples but this one that nailed it down for me.

OK, start tapping your foot.

A "single" note is played every time your foot hits the floor.

A "half" note is played every time your foot hits the floor AND when it reaches the highest point from the ground, without changing the rhythm or speed of your tapping.

A triplet is played every time your foot hits the ground AND when it's 2/3 the way to the top AND when it's still 2/3 of the way off the ground.
: : :
0 0 0 0 0 0
: : : : : :
0 0 0 0


To spread the out, flat:
"Single" note: 0:::::0:::::0:::::0

Triplet: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0

Hope that helps, rather than confuses.

Greybeard -- it might confuse in that in western music anything in x/4 time (2/4, 3/4, 4/4) defines a quarter note as once per beat and an eighth note as twice per beat. In 4/4, a whole note is four beats in length, and a half note is two beats in length (not half a beat as you described.)

I think you may mean quarter note instead of single note

and

eighth note instead of half note in your explanation.

The other thing to understand about triplets is that the first note of the triplet is accented, as it is the only one that falls on the downbeat.

-G

Or to simplify even more,

Picture the drum solo where the drummer goes:
SNARE.............SNARE..........BASS DRUM
SNARE.....SNARE....BASS DRUM
SNARE..SNARE..BASS DRUM
SNARE SNARE BASS DRUM

speeding up as he/she goes.

Those are triplets with progressing tempo.

I think of Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill for describing triplets

As I recall, the intro to that is in triplets, but then I think it goes to dotted eighth/sixteenth rhythm.

At any rate, in 4/4 time (or 3/4, 2/4, 5/4, cut time, etc.) a note divides into two parts (eighth notes) or four parts (sixteenth notes). Songs in 6/8 or 12/8 have the same beats, but they divide into three parts.... ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six for 6/8 time, for instance.

Triplets are when a note in a 4/4 type time divides into three parts instead of two. It's also called a 'borrowed division' because it's being borrowed from time signatures that naturally divide into three parts... and the borrowed divisions for something in 6/8 would be a 'duplet', which divides into two parts.

You can count them ONE-trip-let-TWO-trip-let etc... but after you've done them a while they're pretty easy to 'feel' instead of count.

I think you may mean quarter note instead of single note

No, I don't. I deliberately avoided using any terminology that could be confused with time signatures and minims, crotchets, quavers, or whatever. I was only interested in showing the relationship between the length of the notes.