Basic Rhythm Concepts You Need to Play Piano

Today we’re going to dig into some of the basic aspects of rhythm that you need to know and think about before trying to tackle them at the piano.

The reason we look at these before we try them in piano playing because it helps us to grasp each concept in our understanding before we try to perform it in our fingers at the piano. It helps to do this anytime we start something new on the piano…go over it mentally first…then teach your body to do it.  

Rhythm is essentially the timing of all the notes that we have to play in a piece or scale. Rhythm tells us how many notes to play in a measure and how to count them. Rhythm groups note durations together to make up the needed beats in each measure.

• Rhythm is not pitch. Pitch is the linear movement of the notes up and down the keyboard. While pitch is what notes we are playing and what direction they go, rhythm is how you play those notes so that they make sense and just don’t sound like random notes.

The different concepts that we will learn about today are note durations, tempo, time signatures, and measures. 

Note durations are the number of beats that different kinds of notes get. For example:

• Whole notes get 4 counts each.
• Dotted half notes get 3 counts each.
• Half notes get 2 counts each.
• Quarter notes get 1 count each.

Each time we play one of these notes we need to play it for the total number of beats that it is supposed to get. If we have a whole note then we have to count and play it for 4 full beats…not any less or any more than 4.

​Make sure to watch the video at the end to see what each of these notes look like and how you play them on the piano while counting the beats.

Tempo is how fast or slow we play these notes above.

• You can count and play notes at any speed that you’d like to, but it is always best to start slower and then move up steadily to a faster tempo.
• Compare tempo to a speed limit as it is very much the same. Speed limits tell us how fast we can drive and even how slow before we get into trouble. Tempo in music defines a range of speed that you will need to learn and play at without speeding up or slowing down.

Measures in music are the bar lines on the music staff that contain group of notes. Each area in between the bar lines is called a measure.

• We number these measures going left to right with the first measure being measure 1.
• The first measure will always contain the time signature which tells you exactly how many beats you need to count in each measure. There are several different time signatures that we can have…there isn’t just one.
• The top number is the one that tells us how many beats to count in each measure. If there is a 4 on top, then you’ll count 4 beats in each measure.
• The bottom number tell us what kind of note is going to get each beat. If the bottom number is a 4, then the quarter note gets the beat. If the bottom number is a 2, then a half note would get the beat.

Take some time to just look at piano music and locate the measures, time signature and what types of note durations you have in your piece before you start.

• Check to see how many quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes or whole notes you have and make sure you can count each measure before trying to play it.
• You will always need to see what the time signature is in a piece before starting to play it, so you know how to group the notes together correctly in each measure.
• Remember that tempo is how fast or slow you are going to count and play those notes. Always start with a slower tempo so you can count correctly as you start going faster.

The following video gives you visuals of each of these different types of note durations, plus I count through each of them and play them on the piano so you can hear the different lengths with the correct number of counts. I’ll also show you what measures look like in sheet music and where to find your time signature.

Take time and learn each of these concepts fully before we continue digging into music theory topics here and on my YouTube channel. Working through these will give you a very solid foundation to build upon in the near future. 

If you like my tips and lessons, you will love the courses over on my website. Whether you are a beginner looking to get a solid foundation to build on or you are looking to take your existing skills to that next level, the online music courses on my website https://www.pianolessonsontheweb.com will help you do just that.