STRING THEORY

I GOT RHYTHM, PART 3

Eighth notes and rests

IN I GOT Rhythm, Part 2, we learned about two essential musical elements, rests and ties. A quick review:

A rest is a “hole of silence” between any two notes or chords, and every rhythmic note value, such as a whole note, half note or quarter note, has a corresponding rest of equal duration, as indicated by the traditional symbols, or pictographs, shown in , which are rhythmic tab notation and standard sheet music. To remember these symbols, I’ve always found it helpful to think of a half rest as looking like a top hat and a whole rest like an upside-down top hat. And a quarter rest looks like a seagull in flight but with its wings rotated vertically.