Beginners Reading Sheet Music (Lesson #0018)

Time Signature

Songs are played to a set tempo, this tempo is measured in beats. We then group these beats into bars with our bar lines. Between each bar line there is an even amount of beats. To find out how many beats are in each bar we use what is called a time signature.

The most popular time signature is 4/4 (four - four time), this is also called common time. This tells us that there is four beats per bar. The four on top tells you how many beats there are in one bar. The four on the bottom tells you what each beat is worth, in this case each beat is worth a quarter note.

Each one of these Ts represents your tempo (an even paced recurring beat)

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

Then we place these Ts into groups of two, three, four, five, sixes and so on.

| T T | T T T | T T T T | T T T T T | T T T T T T |

Now lets place a quarter note under each T, remember a quarter note is worth one beat.

The number on the bottom tells us what each beat is worth. In this case each beat is worth a quarter note.

Now lets place an eighth note under each T, remember an eighth note is worth half a beat.

The example shown above is not
the same as the audio examples

The example shown above is not
the same as the audio examples

The example shown above is not
the same as the audio examples