Length of a note
The hardest point to grasp is that the length of the note is actually the gap between notes.
In the above diagram:
- Play three notes with the last note lasting for one beat
- One beat follows
- Play three notes with the last note lasting for one beat – the last note is the first beat of the second bar
Bars are a way of splitting the music into time, but the music flows from one bar into another. There is no pause between bars, unless shown by the notation.
- Five notes (played twice as fast as the earlier three notes) follow, with the last note lasting for one beat
- Play three notes with the last note lasting for one beat – the last note is the first beat of the third bar
- Follow with three notes, with the last note lasting for one beat
- And carry on into the next bar