Q: I watch a video that says, ok, quarter notes, eighth, sixteenth notes. I see they are picking faster that's it. How do I apply it to a song?
If you want to try to understand about note durations, I'd suggest looking at each of these lessons.
Note Duration
Measures and Time Signature
If you have studied those pages and have questions, let me know. Meanwhile, let's take a familiar tune to see how it works. I decided to use
Row, Row, Row Your Boat because it is well known, has a straightforward rhythm, and has great examples of how quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes and triplets are used in rhythm. The music, with mandolin tab, looks like this:
TIME SIGNATURE: The 4/4 up there tells you that there are
four beats in each measure (bar), and quarter notes get one beat each.
Each measure must have 4 quarter notes, or the equivalent of them. Each measure has four beats.
There are numbers above the tab notes (below the standard notes) that show the beats of each measure. If you play this melody on your mandolin, use a downstroke on every note that falls on the beat. Use an upstroke on all eighth notes that fall between the beats.
1ST MEASURE
Are you understanding how the beats fall? Try singing the first measure:
ROW, ROW, ROW your BOAT over and over a few times. The capitalized "ROW - ROW - ROW - BOAT" falls on the beat, 1, 2, 3, 4. The lowercase "your" falls between the beats 3 & 4. You can sing the melody with words: "
ROW, ROW, ROW your BOAT" or you can sing it with number the same way: "1 2 3 & 4"
In this first measure: Beat
one is a quarter note, beat
two is a quarter note, beat
three-and is two eighth notes, beat
four is a quarter note. So there are four beats here, and the note values or durations add up to the equivalent of four quarter notes.
2ND MEASURE
Analyze the beats in measure two by singing the tune again, over and over, and tap your foot at the beat. It will sound like GENT-ly DOWN the STREAM. You can sing the numbers like this: 1 & 2 & 3 - (4)
In this second measure: Beat
one-and is two eighth notes, beat
two-and is two eighth notes, and beat
three has a
half note that you must hold all the way through beat
four. This is because if a quarter note gets one beat, then a half note must get two beats. A half note is twice the length of time as a quarter note, and remember, these beats are measuring time. In music, the beats count time like the beats of your heart, the tick-tock of the clock, the click of the metronome. In this measure, there are four eighth notes and one half note, and these add up to the equivalent of four quarter notes, and account for four beats in the measure.
3RD MEASURE
Here is something to learn: The Triplet. Triplets are exceptional. Triplets change the timing or duration of their notes, by
cramming three notes into the time-space of two notes. So in this merry verse, three eighth notes are crammed into each beat. One beat normally accomodates only two eighth notes. Normally, eighth notes are counted by saying "seafood" four times each measure. Set your metronome, and say the word "SEAfood" at each click (SEA on the click, food between clicks) and you will begin to understand how eighth notes fit. Now, replace "seafood" with "chocolate" - "CHOC-o-late, CHOC-o-late, CHOC-o-late, CHOC-o-late" - and you will begin to understand how eighth note triplets work. Triplets are a special case, so there is a number "3" printed where they are tied together. You can sing this measure as "MERrily MERrily MERrily MERrily" or you can sing it as 1 &-a 2 &-a 3 &-a 4 &-a
Each beat of this measure contains a triplet, which is equal to the timing of two eighth notes or a quarter note, so this measure has the equivalent of four quarter notes, one per beat. Yes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes and triplets are played faster than quarter notes, because more of them must be crammed into each beat which is set at quarter note speed (4/4)
4TH MEASURE
The timing of this measure is exactly the same as the second measure, so read that again and apply the principles to this final measure to see how well you understand all this.
IN GENERAL
Use a down pick stroke on the beats, and an up pick stroke between the beats. Triplets are special though, and in this example you should try DUD DUD DUD DUD in that measure.
Set your metronome to make a click on each downbeat. 1, 2, 3, 4 - click, click, click, click
Bookmarks