Rhythm, Beats, and Time Signatures

When to read this: Sessions 4 and 7 each assign part of this handout. Read each part after its session: the reading is not part of the session’s 50 minutes. After Session 4, read “What Is a Beat?”, “Tempo — How Fast the Beats Go” and “Note Values — How Long Each Note Lasts” (about 10 minutes). After Session 7, read “Time Signatures” and “Exercise 4: Counting in 3/4 Time” (about 3 minutes).

What You’ll Learn

Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds in music. It is what makes you tap your foot or nod your head. This handout teaches you how rhythm works, what beats are, how note values divide time, and what a time signature tells you — all demonstrated on your guitar so you can feel it, not just read about it.

The Concept Explained

What Is a Beat?

A beat is a steady pulse in music, like a heartbeat or the ticking of a clock. When you clap along to a song, you are clapping on the beats. Beats are evenly spaced — the time between each beat is the same.

Try this: tap your foot at a comfortable, steady pace. Each tap is one beat. That steady tapping is the pulse. How fast it goes is the tempo.

Tempo — How Fast the Beats Go

Tempo is the speed of the beats, measured in BPM (beats per minute). A tempo of 60 BPM means one beat every second. A tempo of 120 BPM means two beats per second — twice as fast.

In this course, you use a metronome (a device or app that clicks at a set tempo) from Session 1. Set it to 60 BPM to start — one click per second.

Note Values — How Long Each Note Lasts

Notes have different durations. In 4/4 time (the most common time signature — explained below), here are the basic note values. A measure is a group of beats, here four; the next section explains it.

Note Value	Duration	How Many Per Measure
Whole note	4 beats	1
Half note	2 beats	2
Quarter note	1 beat	4
Eighth note	1/2 beat	8
Sixteenth note	1/4 beat	16

Think of it like cutting a pie. A whole note fills the entire measure. Cut it in half: two half notes. Cut each half in half: four quarter notes. Keep cutting: eight eighth notes, sixteen sixteenth notes.

Sixteenth notes are not used in the sessions of this course. They are counted “1-e-&-a”, four equal parts to each beat, and you will meet them only in material for after the course (the gallop rhythm in Metal Rhythms And Techniques).

Measures (Bars)

Music is divided into equal groups of beats called measures (also called bars). In TAB and standard notation, measures are separated by upright lines called bar lines:

e|------0---1---3---0---|---1---3---0---1---|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|----------------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4

Each bar line | marks the end of one measure and the start of the next. The count starts again at 1 after every bar line.

Time Signatures

A time signature is two numbers stacked at the beginning of a piece. It tells you two things:

• Top number: How many beats are in each measure
• Bottom number: What note value gets one beat

4/4 Time (also called “common time”)

• 4 beats per measure
• Quarter note = 1 beat
• Count: “1 - 2 - 3 - 4, 1 - 2 - 3 - 4”
• Used in: most rock, pop, blues, and Hindi film music
• Most songs in this course use 4/4 time

3/4 Time (also called “waltz time”)

• 3 beats per measure
• Quarter note = 1 beat
• Count: “1 - 2 - 3, 1 - 2 - 3”
• Used in: waltzes, some folk songs
• First encountered in Session 7 with “Scarborough Fair”

Counting Eighth Notes

When you need to count eighth notes (which are twice as fast as quarter notes), add “and” between the beats:

“1 - and - 2 - and - 3 - and - 4 - and”

Each number and each “and” is one eighth note. In a Count row, “and” is written ”&”. This becomes important when you start using upstroke strumming patterns (first introduced in Session 5).

Rests — Silence Has Rhythm Too

A rest is a measured silence. Just as notes have durations, rests tell you how long to stay quiet:

Rest	Duration
Whole rest	4 beats of silence
Half rest	2 beats of silence
Quarter rest	1 beat of silence
Eighth rest	1/2 beat of silence

Rests are just as important as notes. A well-placed silence makes music breathe.

In a Count row, a count in brackets, for example “(3)”, is a count on which you play nothing. You still say it. Brackets on their own do not tell you to stop the sound: in a strumming pattern such as D D U U D U (Session 5) the chord simply keeps ringing through the bracketed count. When the music wants a real rest, a silence, the instructions say so, as in Exercise 6 below. On the guitar a rest takes an action, because the strings keep ringing until you stop them: lay the edge of your strumming-hand palm (the fleshy side below the little finger) across all six strings.

On Your Guitar

In the grids below, each letter in the Strum row sits directly under its count. D = downstroke, U = upstroke, d = a softer downstroke. A gap in the Strum row means no new strum on that count. Where the gap falls on a numbered beat, that number is written in brackets.

Exercise 1: Feeling the Beat with Open Strings

Set a metronome to 60 BPM (or tap your foot steadily, one tap per second).

Strum the open strings of your Saga SF-600C-BK (all six strings, no fretting hand needed) once per beat — one strum per click:

Count:  1   2   3   4   |   1   2   3   4   |
Strum:  D   D   D   D   |   D   D   D   D   |

Each strum is a quarter note. You are playing in 4/4 time. Keep it perfectly even — every strum lands exactly on a click.

Say the count aloud, clap the rhythm, then strum it with the metronome.

Exercise 2: Half Notes and Whole Notes

Same open strum, but now hold each strum longer:

Half notes (strum every 2 beats):

Count:  1  (2)  3  (4)  |   1  (2)  3  (4)  |
Strum:  D       D       |   D       D       |

Strum on beats 1 and 3 only. Let the strings ring through beats 2 and 4.

Whole note (strum once per measure):

Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)  |   1  (2) (3) (4)  |
Strum:  D               |   D               |

Strum on beat 1 only. Let it ring for the full measure.

For both versions: say the count aloud, clap the rhythm, then strum it with the metronome. Keep saying all four numbers even where you do not strum.

Exercise 3: Eighth Notes — Down and Up

Now double the speed. Strum down on the beat and up on the “and”:

Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U

D = downstroke, U = upstroke. Your hand moves steadily down-up-down-up. Each strum is an eighth note. This pattern first appears in Session 5.

Keep your strumming motion small. Your forearm swings a short way from the elbow and your wrist stays loose and follows. Your shoulder stays still. Nothing is locked.

Say the count aloud, clap the rhythm, then strum it with the metronome at 60 BPM, strumming D/U (down on the click, up between clicks).

Exercise 4: Counting in 3/4 Time

Strum the Em chord (finger 2 on fret 2 string 5, finger 3 on fret 2 string 4) in 3/4 time:

Count:  1   2   3   |   1   2   3   |
Strum:  D   d   d   |   D   d   d   |

Notice the different feel — three beats per measure has a swaying, waltz-like quality. Accent beat 1 slightly (a slightly bigger stroke, not a harder one) and play beats 2 and 3 more softly to feel the pulse. This is the feel you will use in Session 7 for “Scarborough Fair.”

Say the count aloud, clap the rhythm, then strum it with the metronome at 60 BPM in 3/4, one strum per click. If your metronome lets you choose the beats per measure, set it to 3.

Exercise 5: Mixing Note Values

Try this pattern using the Em chord, mixing quarter notes and eighth notes in 4/4:

Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  D       D       D   U   D   U

Strum down on beats 1 and 2 (quarter notes), then down-up-down-up on beats 3 and 4 (eighth notes). This combination of note values is extremely common in guitar strumming.

Say the count aloud, clap the rhythm, then strum it with the metronome.

Exercise 6: A Rest

Hold the Em chord. In 4/4 at 60 BPM, strum on beats 1 and 2, stay silent on beat 3, and strum again on beat 4:

Count:  1   2  (3)  4   |   1   2  (3)  4   |
Strum:  D   D       D   |   D   D       D   |

On beat 3, lay the edge of your strumming-hand palm across all six strings so that they stop ringing, then lift it and strum on beat 4. The silence should last exactly one click.

Say the count aloud, including the “three” in brackets, clap the rhythm (no clap on 3), then strum it with the metronome.

Exercise 7: Clapping Rhythms with Rests

No guitar for this one. Set the metronome to 60 BPM in 4/4. Clap on every count that is written, and stay silent on a count in brackets. Say the count aloud as you clap, including the bracketed numbers. Clap each rhythm four times in a row without stopping.

Rhythm 1
Count:  1       2   &   3       4

Rhythm 2
Count:  1   &   2       3   &   4

Rhythm 3
Count:  1       2      (3)      4

Rhythm 4
Count:  1      (2)      3   &   4

The numbers fall on the clicks; an ”&” falls halfway between two clicks. You pass a rhythm when you clap it four times in a row and finish with the click.

Quick Quiz

1. How many beats are in one measure of 4/4 time?

2. A quarter note lasts how many beats (in 4/4 time)?

3. If a song is at 60 BPM, how many seconds is one beat?

4. What is the difference between 4/4 time and 3/4 time?

5. When counting eighth notes, what do you say between the numbered beats?

Answers

1. Four beats per measure.
2. One beat.
3. One second. (60 beats in 60 seconds = 1 beat per second.)
4. 4/4 has four beats per measure; 3/4 has three beats per measure. 4/4 feels like marching; 3/4 feels like a waltz.
5. “And” (written as ”&”). You count: “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.”

Key Takeaway

Rhythm is the backbone of everything you play. A beat is a steady pulse, note values tell you how long each sound lasts, and the time signature tells you how beats are grouped into measures. When you can count “1-2-3-4” (or “1-2-3”) and strum exactly on those beats, you have the foundation for every strumming pattern in this course.