Electric Guitar Today

I know it is possible to play music without reading it. But if someday you wish to pick up music sheets and play there are a few basic things to learn like music beats and tempo.

Its all as simple as basic fractions look at figure 1 and two then read the explanations.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Notes:

1 or Whole Note or Semibreve: Represents a whole beat. A whole note is the base to which other fractional notes are related. Look at fig. 1,  there is a 4/4 on the staff. This indicates that in 4/4 time. or 4 beats per whole note.

1/2 Half Notes or Minim: Represents half the duration of a whole note. which is two beats.

1/4 Quarter Notes or Crochets: Represents 1/4 of the duration of a whole note. In 4/4 time quarter meats get 1 beat.

1/8 Eighth Note or Quaver: are one Eighth of a whole beat, they are worth half a beat.

1/16 Sixteenth Note or Semiquaver: Represents 1/16 of a whole note. As you guessed they are worth a quarter of a beat.

Rests: are pauses or silence when you don’t play anything.

Rest 1 beat

half Rest 1/2  beat

Quarter Rest 1/4 beat

Eighth Rest 1/8 beat

When skimming over partitions for the first time look for tempo markings such as:

“lento,” “largo” and “grave” which indicate a very slow tempo between 40 and 60 beats per minute.

“adagio,” “adagietto” and “andante” are for moderately slow tempo that falls between 60 to 100 beats per minute.

“moderato,” “allegretto,” “allegro moderato” and “allegro” are used to indicate lively tempo ranging from 110 to 168 beats per minute.

“vivace,” “presto” and “prestissimo” are very quick tempo that can be as quick as 200 beats per minute.

If there are some parts that don’t seem clear to you leave a comment, we’ll be happy to help you out. Good luck and keep practicing.

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