The Best Way to Count Quarter and Eighth Triplets

One of the most important kind of rhythms that we need to learn as growing pianists are triplets. We will find triplets in our piano music a lot as we advance into more difficult music and exercises.

There are a couple of different kinds of triplets that we’re going to learn about today and they will be the ones that you most encounter in your own playing.

Triplets are always in a group…they are never alone. They are in groups of threes and you will see this notated in your piano music with a little 3 either over or under the notes.

Make sure you know what simple time signatures are and how to count them before starting in on triplets. You also need to know how to count quarter notes and eighth notes and how to play them with a steady beat. You can find a great review of these basic rhythm topics right here.

The first type of triplets we’re going to go over today are 8th note triplets.

• This type of triplets together makes up one beat and you will start counting them at the beginning of the beat that they fall on in the measure.
• Considering you must count each 8th note triplet within the one beat, you will use the syllables – ‘1’ under the 1st triplet note, ‘tri’ under the 2nd triplet note, and then ‘plet’ under the 3rd and final triplet note.
• Remember, that although you are counting each triplet note, the three of them together just make up on beat. That’s why you start counting the first (and sometimes only) triplet in each measure with ‘1’.
• If you encounter another set of triplets in the same measure, you simply start with ‘2’ for the next one, ‘3’ for the next one, and so on until the end of the measure. Correspond the counting with the beat you are on in the measure, in other words.
• Start over for each new measure.
• Make sure you count the triplets before you start playing them on the keyboard and to continue counting them when you start playing them on the keyboard.

We count these 8th note triplets this way because we are splitting up one beat into three “sub beats”, also called subdivision. It’s very important to count and play these triplets very evenly…don’t play any of them shorter or longer than the other one. Remember that 8th note triplets are equal to the value of a quarter note.

Next, we’re going to learn how to count quarter note triplets. These triplets are quite different from 8th note triplets and are more challenging.

• Quarter note triplets are essentially two 8th note triplets put together. They equal the value of a half note vs 8th note triplets equaling the value of a quarter note.
• We count these triplets by applying similar words or syllables to each note as we did with the 8th note triplets. Count them by saying ‘1 tri’ under the 1st quarter triplet note, ‘plet 2’ under the 2nd quarter triplet note, and ‘tri plet’ under the 3rd quarter triplet note.
• Notice how you’re basically applying two 8th beats under each quarter triplet note…or you’re saying 2 syllables under each one that get the same value as an 8th note.
• The notes will sound a little off as you begin to play this because the beats are being split or subdivided into 8th beats. This is the same as subdividing the 8th triplets.

It’s very important to use the metronome while you count and play these triplet rhythms to help you stay in tempo and on the correct beat.

Remember that 8th note triplets equal 1 quarter beat, and quarter note triplets equal a half note.

While this written description of triplets is a great introduction to them, the following video shows you what each kind look like on the musical staff and I write in the counts under the correct notes so you can make sure you understand it correctly. Then I’ll play and count with the metronome each one so you can experience hearing them and even playing along on your own piano.

​Good luck and have fun learning about these fun and often used rhythmic values as you will come across them often in all kinds of music in your piano playing!

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.