Learn How To Use And Understand Rest On Piano

Source:Internet    Posted by:Learntopianoonline.com   Date:2010-01-06   Click:

Today I want to talk about rests. We've talked about quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. In music, there are always spaces in what you are playing. Those spaces are called rests.

Let's look at an example in 4/4 time. In that time signature, there are four beats per measure. So if I play a measure of quarter notes it would be: note, note, note, note. But lets say there is a rest in there. It would look more like: note, note, no note, note. That space where there is no note is the rest. In that measure there are 3 quarter notes, and 1 quarter rest.

We can do the same things with eighth notes and eighth note rests, sixteenth notes and sixteenth note rests, and on and on. The length of the space, or the rest, is the same as it would be if you were actually playing a note.

Just like notes, rests have a different look depending on what their duration is. You can watch the video to see what each rest notation looks like. Listening to me play in the video will also help you get a grasp on the concept if you are having difficulty.