4 Beats In A Bar Explained (whole, half, quarter & 8th notes made simple)

Some guitarists, especially new guitarists, get confused about musical terms. The one that often stumps them is 4 beats in a bar. Admittedly to the uninitiated 4 beats in the bar does sound quite confusing.

However, once you look into it and learn what it means, it can really help your guitar playing progress and it’s not that complicated either! Keep reading to find out more.

What Does 4 Beats In A Bar Mean?

Music is separated into bars to help us keep a steady rhythm. The most common time signature uses 4 beats in the bar which are counted at a steady 1, 2, 3, 4 pace. This is known as a 4/4 time signature.

If you open our free metronome you’ll see that its default time signature setting is 4/4 time. That’s because 4/4 time is the standard used in most popular music.

A 4/4 time signature means that the metronome will beep 4 times per bar. This will give you a consistent, steady rhythm to follow.

How To Use 4 Beats In A Bar In Your Guitar Playing

When practising your guitar playing you need to be in time with other musicians or the sound you produce will sound discordant. To prevent this you will need to understand how musical notes work and it’s all linked to the beats in a bar.

Playing Whole Notes

Now that we’ve learned that using standard 4/4 time, there are 4 beats to the bar, it can influence the way we strum the guitar when accompanying popular songs. Using that steady 1, 2, 3, 4 count we can play a whole range of different value notes.

Whole notes are notes that last the whole length of the bar. This means strumming a chord on the first beat of the bar and allowing it to ring out for the following 3 beats of that same bar.

You can try this yourself playing any chord that you like. Strum the strings using a downstroke as you count 1, then don’t touch the strings again until you have completed the count through to 4. Then strum again as you start the next bar at 1.

Congratulations, you have now played a series of whole notes on your guitar. This is a great starting point but if this is all you do, it will become monotonous and sound really boring as well.

To keep the music interesting, you’ll need to add other strumming patterns as well, such as half notes…

Playing Half Notes

As you might have already guessed, playing half notes means you’ll be adding one more strum than when playing whole notes. A whole note lasts for all 4 beats of the bar, whereas a half note lasts for half of the bar.

You will still need to count 1, 2, 3, 4 at a steady pace but this time, you’ll be strumming on the 1st and 3rd beats of the bar. So strum the guitar as you count 1, let it ring for 2, and then strum again on the 3rd beat and allow it to ring through the 4th beat.

This might be slightly more difficult because you need to remember to keep the count going as well as remembering to strum on numbers 1 and 3. But, with enough practise, you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Once you master playing half notes as well as whole notes you can mix them up by playing 2 bars of whole notes followed by 2 bars of half notes. You will notice that this gives a bit more interest to the rhythm.

Using whole notes and half notes means you’ll be able to play a few songs. 

Playing Quarter Notes

So far, we’ve played whole notes which are strummed on the 1st beat and last for the whole 4 beats in the bar. And half notes that are played on the 1st and 3rd beat of the bar and last for half a bar each.

Now we’re going to move on to quarter notes which as their name implies, last for a quarter of a bar each. That means that you strum on each of the 4 beats of the bar. Now, this is much faster than playing whole notes or half notes because you’re strumming on each beat of the bar.

You need to concentrate on keeping your beat count steady when learning to play quarter notes because it can be easy to get carried away with your strumming. It might be a good idea to use our free metronome as a guide for timing.

Remember you need to strum the guitar on each count of the 4 beat bar. As you count your bar (1, 2, 3, 4) strum with each number. So, strum down on the 1, then again on the 2 and so on.

This might take you a bit longer to master, but once you have, you’re on your way to playing better, more interesting rhythms on your guitar. Plus you’ll be able to accompany many more songs.

Playing 8th Notes

Once you have whole notes, half notes and quarter notes mastered, you can move onto 8th notes. These follow the same pattern as before, we still use a 4 beat bar but now we need to fit 8 notes into it.

This looks impossible doesn’t it? How can you fit 8 notes into 4 beats while strumming the guitar? Well, once you learn how to do it you’ll realise just how easy it is.

So far we’ve only been strumming downstrokes and playing as we count the beats. For instance when strumming quarter notes we strummed the guitar on all 4 beats of the bar.

Now 8th notes means adding another 4 strums into this pattern. The way to do it is to add an “and” between each number as we count. So instead of counting 1, 2, 3, 4, we need to count 1, &, 2, &, 3, &, 4, &.

As you can see this gives us 8 notes instead of 4 but still encapsulated within the 4/4 time signature. However, there is a slight problem with this, which is the difficulty of strumming 8 downstrokes in quick succession.

Which is why for 8th notes we introduce the upstroke. So we strum a downstroke on the numbers and an upstroke on the “ands” which allows us an easy way to play 8 notes in a 4 beat bar.

Give it a try, strum a downstroke as you count 1, then an upstroke as you say “and” then a downstroke as you count 2 and an upstroke as you say “and” and so on.

The secret to strumming upstrokes successfully is to slant the pick slightly downwards to help you strum all of the strings.

This might take you longer to master than the whole notes, half notes and quarter notes because there’s a lot of things to learn here. But once you get it right, your muscle memory will take over and soon you’ll be playing 8th notes without needing to think about it.

Mixing It Up (combining 8th notes with quarter notes)

Once you can successfully strum whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and 8th notes, you can start combining them to make interesting rhythms. Try playing 8th notes for half a bar.

So that’s a downstroke on the 1, an upstroke on the &, a downstroke on the 2 and an upstroke on the &. Then for the 2nd half of the bar, play quarter notes. That’s a downstroke on the 3, letting it ring through the & and then another downstroke on the 4 (letting it ring for the &) before starting the whole sequence again.

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A Quick Word About Posture

Learning new techniques like this takes a lot of concentration and can lead to tension in areas where we don’t want any tension at all. So take a minute to look at your posture, are you sitting in an upright position?

Are your arms, shoulders or wrists tight? Be sure to relax before you start and remain as relaxed as possible throughout these exercises. Tension can lead to pain and the last thing we want is any unnecessary pain.

Another thing that many new guitarists tend to do is hold their breath when learning something new. Remember to breathe as you play because holding your breath can also lead to tension and all the complications that come with it.

Also don’t push yourself too hard, you probably won’t learn all of this in one session. Take your time, there’s no rush, and the better you master these basic skills, the better guitarist you will become in the future.

Guitarists are always learning, it never ends and as soon as you realise that the less pressure you’ll put yourself under. Above all else, have fun and enjoy yourself.

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