Every note you have read so far has lasted at least one beat. Music often needs something quicker: little runs and lively patterns that move faster than the pulse. The eighth note gives you that. It is the first note that is shorter than a beat, and learning to count it accurately will make your rhythm much more secure.
What an eighth note is
An eighth note lasts half a beat. Two of them fit exactly into one beat, the same time as one quarter note.
It looks like a quarter note, with a filled head and a stem, plus one extra feature:
- On its own, an eighth note has a small flag, a curved tail on the end of its stem.
- In pairs, the flags are replaced by a straight line joining the stems, called a beam. Two beamed eighth notes together fill one beat.
In beginner music you will mostly see eighth notes in beamed pairs, and you can think of each pair as "one beat, split in two".
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Counting "1 and 2 and"
To count eighth notes you need a word for the halfway point of each beat. Musicians use "and", often written as &. In 4/4 you count:
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
The numbers fall on the beats, exactly where they always have. The "and" falls exactly halfway between one beat and the next. A quarter note takes up a number and its "and"; a pair of eighth notes puts one note on the number and one on the "and".
Practise saying the count before you play. Keep the numbers at the same speed they have always been, and slot the "and" neatly in between. If the numbers start speeding up when you add the "and"s, slow down.
Comparing eighths and quarters
The clearest way to feel eighth notes is to compare them directly with quarter notes on the same beat:
Every beat in that example is either one quarter note, two eighth notes, or part of a half note. If you count "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" steadily through every bar, the eighth notes will land in the right places.
Eighth notes on the keys
Now add pitch. With your right hand in C position, try this:
Keep your fingers close to the keys and light. Quick notes need small, efficient movements; if you lift your fingers high, the eighths will be uneven. Listen for an even pattern, like a clock ticking twice as fast, never a lopsided "long-short".
A useful next step is to play eighth notes in the right hand while the left hand holds a long note, as you did with quarter notes in the last lesson. The left hand stays still on a whole note while the right hand runs C D E F G F E D in eighths.
Running Eighths
The Academy piece for this lesson is Running Eighths, a tune in C position built from beamed pairs. Its first bar is the same as the example above: C D E D as eighth notes, then two Cs as quarter notes. The second bar runs E F G F in eighths and settles on a half-note E.
How to practise
- Count "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" aloud with a metronome at a slow speed, about 60. Clap only on the numbers, then on every syllable.
- Clap the first rhythm, saying the count aloud. Then clap the four-bar mixed rhythm.
- Play the four-bar rhythm on middle C, still counting aloud.
- Play the C D E example. Use fingers 1, 2, 3 and keep them light and close to the keys.
- Try the right-hand eighths over a left-hand whole note.
- Play Running Eighths slowly, a bar at a time, then put the bars together.
Common mistakes
- Rushing the beat. Eighth notes feel busy, and that makes the whole tempo creep up. The numbers must stay at the same speed.
- Treating a beamed pair as one note. A beam joins two separate notes. Play both.
- Slowing down at eighth notes. The opposite problem: hesitating before quick notes. Look ahead so your fingers are ready.
- Lifting fingers too high. Big movements make quick notes clumsy. Stay close to the keys.
The guide to note lengths and rhythm puts every note value you have learned side by side.
Try it in Pianuvo
Eighth notes are the second lesson of Unit 3: Hands together, eighth notes, p and f. You tap eighth-note rhythms with a click, copy two-bar patterns by ear, read beamed pairs on the staff, run eighths over a held left-hand note and then play Running Eighths. Whether you use the screen keys, a MIDI keyboard or a real piano via the microphone, the Academy checks that each "and" lands halfway between the beats.