Reading Rhythm Notation

As we progress through this program you'll find there are quite a few different ways to write down music which are all universally accepted. One of these forms is called rhythm notation.

It's very easy to read if you understand the concept of time values which I talked about in the chapters entitled Playing a Chord Progression and Rhythm Variations.

Instead of using down and up arrows to show your right hand strumming, we show a symbol which represents the time value (quarter or eighth beat), and a separate symbol to show whether you should use a down or an up stroke. Have a look at the diagram below which shows some of the symbols and their meanings.

As you can see, each of the beats can be drawn with their stem facing up or down, and two eighth beats can be joined together with a beam. The whole beat is shown above, meaning let the chord ring for four counts (four quarter beats, or a whole bar in all the examples so far). I've also included a repeat last bar sign which is standard in all forms of notation. Using Rhythm notation, the last exercise on the previous page (Ex 14) would be written like the chord chart below.

The symbols indicating down and up strokes are usually only shown in the first bar if the rhythm remains the same for the remainder of the progression. The timing (1, 2 and, 3, 4 and) is not usually written in at all. I've included it just to help you along.

There are more notation signs which I'll show you later as we use them further on in the program. Play through Exercise 14 again, this time using the Rhythm notation chord chart above to follow the chord progression, then go to the next page to learn a few more chords.

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Reading Rhythm Notation

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Copyright ©1997 Kim Wainwright.