Sixteenth note

Four per beat

On the page Reading music it says in the note-value table: the sixteenth note is a sixteenth, four per basic beat, and carries two beams. The page Rhythm shows the counting: quarter notes “1 2 3 4”, eighth notes “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”, sixteenth notes “1 e and a 2 e and a”, four equally fast syllables per beat. The tip is also there to tap the basic beat with your foot and speak the subdivision.

The proportions are named by the page Rhythm Dictation: a whole note lasts as long as sixteen sixteenth notes. On the higher levels of the exercise sixteenth notes are added, after the quarter and eighth notes of the first levels.

Sixteenth notes in the score

Guitar

• Etüde Nr. 7 Matteo Carcassi, op. 60 No. 7 · guitar · 2 pages

  In 4/4 the bars consist almost entirely of sixteenth notes, beamed in fours: sixteen sixteenth notes fill a bar, with the bass as a voice of its own below. “Allegro”, beginning with the dynamic f (forte).

Piano

• Achttaktige Übung Nr. 4 Carl Czerny, op. 821 No. 4 · piano · 1 page

  In 6/8 the left hand runs in sixteenth notes, joined in groups by two beams, “p dolce”. Above them lie eighth notes in the right hand.

The article Understanding and counting syncopation describes how in funk the weight is shifted onto the sixteenth notes: the stresses lie on the “e” and the “a” of the count.

Common mistakes

• Rushing sixteenth notes: All four syllables per beat are equally long. Count aloud.
• Forgetting to count the beams: Two beams mean sixteenth notes, one beam eighth notes.
• Slipping in the bar: Group the sixteenth notes into beats, not into one long chain.