Confused about note values and rests?

Here are your answers! In this music theory lesson for beginners you'll
learn how to divide the notes, and how to understand exactly how long
(or short) a note or rest can be!

What a Musical Note Can Show Us

A musical note can show us two things:

1. Duration: The duration, or how long or short the note is. This is
also called note value.
2. Pitch: When placed on a music staff, the note also shows the
pitch, which means how high or low a note is.

Note Values are Fractions

There are two commonly used ways of naming the different notes, (US
and British). Here is a comparison:

Whole note = Semibreve

Half note = Minim

Quarter note = Crotchet

Eight note = Quaver

16th note = Semiquaver

32nd note = Demisemiquaver

64th note = Hemidemisemiquaver

128th note = Semihemidemisemiquaver

The names, as you can see, indicates that they are fractions. Each
note value is a part of a whole note, and that also gives them their
names:
● 1 = Whole Note. We often say it lasts for 4 beats, since the
most common note to count beats with is the quarter note
(1/4). But this can change, since a whole note can also be
counted as 2 half notes (1/2), or 8 eight notes (1/8), etc.
● 1/2 = Half Note. Usually 2 beats long.
● 1/4 = Quarter Note. Usually said to last one beat.
● 1/8 = Eight Note. 2 eight notes equals 1 quarter note.
● 1/16 = Sixteenth Note. 4 sixteenth notes equals 1 quarter note.
● 1/32 = 32nd Note. 8 32nd notes equals 1 quarter note.
● 1/64 = 64th Note. 16 64th notes equals 1 quarter note.
● 1/128 = 128th Note. 32 128th notes equals 1 quarter note.