Lessons › Rhythm

Dotted notes and ties

A dot after a note makes it half as long again. A tie joins two notes of the same pitch into one longer sound. Between them they let music hold a note for any length.

What a dot does

A dot to the right of a note head adds half the note’s value. A dotted half note is a half note (two beats) plus a quarter note (one beat): three beats. A dotted quarter is a quarter plus an eighth: one and a half beats. Rests can be dotted in exactly the same way.

• Dotted whole note: 4 + 2 = 6 beats (in 4/4 counting)
• Dotted half note: 2 + 1 = 3 beats
• Dotted quarter note: 1 + ½ = 1½ beats
• Dotted eighth note: ½ + ¼ = ¾ of a beat

The dotted quarter and eighth

The most common dotted rhythm is a dotted quarter followed by an eighth: long, short. It appears in countless melodies (the opening of Auld Lang Syne uses it, for example). Count it as 1 (2) and: the dotted quarter starts on beat 1 and holds through beat 2, and the eighth note falls on the “and” after beat 2.

A good way to learn it is to clap two plain quarter notes, then clap the same thing with the second note tied to an eighth. The long-short shape should feel like a lean forward into the next beat.

The dotted eighth and sixteenth

A dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth is the same long-short shape squeezed into a single beat. It gives marches and many folk tunes their bounce. Count it as 1 (e and) a: the dotted eighth takes three quarters of the beat and the sixteenth takes the last quarter. Be careful not to play it as a swung or triplet rhythm, which is softer and more even.

What a tie does

A tie is a curved line joining two notes of the same pitch. You play the first note and hold it for the length of both, without playing the second. Ties are needed whenever a note continues across a bar line, and they are also used to show the beat clearly in the middle of a measure.

A tie looks like a slur, which also joins notes with a curve. The difference: a tie joins two notes on the same line or space, while a slur joins notes of different pitches and means to play them smoothly. If the notes are the same, it is a tie.

Dot or tie?

Many durations can be written either way. A dotted half note and a half note tied to a quarter last the same time. Editors follow one rule above others: show where the beats are. In 4/4, a note starting on beat 2 and lasting two beats is often written as two tied quarters, so you can see beat 3 in the middle.

Reading tips

• Find the dot. Dots are small; on a busy page they look like specks. Watch for them after half and quarter notes in particular.
• Count the short note. In a dotted rhythm the short note usually lands just before a beat. Feel where the next beat is and place the short note just ahead of it.
• Hold ties through the bar line. It is easy to restart a tied note out of habit. Keep the key down, the bow moving or the breath going.