The combination of single and beamed eighth notes looks like this:Įighth notes receive ½ of a count. Three Followed by FourĬount the three/four grouping "one, two, three, one, two, three, four." Four Followed by ThreeĬount the four/three grouping "one, two, three, four, one, two, three.A single eighth note symbol looks like this with one flag:Ī beamed eighth note symbol looks like this:
It is also possible to have groupings that include twos, but these are less common. Three/two should be counted as "one, two, three, one, two." Counting in 7/4ħ/4 is usually a group of three followed by a group of four or a group of four followed by group of three. The grouping of two and three should be counted "one, two, one two three" as shown below: Three Followed by Two
Counting in 5/4ĥ/4 is usually a combination of two and three or three and two. The counting rules given previously can be used to deal with any subdivisions in these time signatures.
group of four: count "one, two, three, four". Because beats in these time signatures are usually grouped into twos, threes, and fours, you should count each individual group of beats as shown below: The grouping of the beats is important because it affects how you count each group. The beaming of eighth note and smaller note values will show how the beats are grouped. These time signatures are usually divided into groups of twos, threes, and fours. Thirty-second notes are often too fast to count every note, so they are usually counted like sixteenth notes, with two notes to each count.Īn alternative is to count "one - e - and - a - and - e - and - a, two - e - and - a - and - e - and - a, three - e - and - a - and - e - and - a, four - e - and - a - and - e - and - a." Counting in Compound Time Signatures Counting in 6/8Ĭount eighth notes as "one - two - three, two - two - three." The count for other common rhythms is shown below: Counting in 9/8Įighth notes should be counted as "one - two - three, two - two - three, three - two three." Counting in 12/8Ĭount eighth notes as "one - two - three, two - two - three, three - two - three, four - two - three." Counting in Complex Time SignaturesĬomplex time signatures are time signatures like 5/4 or 7/8. RhythmĬount "one - trip - let - and - trip - let, two - trip - let - and - trip - let, three - trip - let - and - trip - let, four - trip - let - and - trip - let." Thirty-second Notes Whole NotesĬount "one, two, three, four." Half NotesĬount "one, two, three, four." Quarter NotesĬount "one, two, three, four." Eighth NotesĬount "one - and, two - and, three - and, four - and." TripletsĬount "one - trip - let, two - trip - let, three - trip - let, four - trip - let." Sixteenth NotesĬount "one - e - and - a, two - e - and - a, three - e - and - a, four - e - and - a" for steady sixteenth notes.īelow is a chart of common sixteenth note rhythms and how they are counted. '+' is used in the music to represent the word 'and' in order to reduce clutter in the musical examples. 
Words enclosed in parentheses are optional. Commas are used to separate each beat, while dashes '-' are used to separate different words in the same beat.
The counting method shown in 4/4 can easily be adapted to any other simple time signature. Guide to Counting Common Rhythms Counting Simple RhythmsĪll of the musical examples are shown in 4/4 time until the section on compound time signatures.
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