From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Rhythm

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Dots and ties

Dots and ties

From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Rhythm

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Dots and ties

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- Doublets and triplets make up most of the rhythms you'll play, but there are a couple of other rhythmic devices that are used to extend the length of these kind of notes. They are dots and ties. When you see one of these little guys, the dot, that means that the note length is extended by half as much as the original value. So for a half note, which is usually two beats, the dot adds an extra quarter note of length onto the note making it three beats long. Sometimes composures get tricky and add a second dot, which then adds another quarter of the note value to the original note length. So this double dotted half note is now equal to three and a half beats. I doubt you will see many uses of this, but I wanted you to be aware of it. Another way to extend the length of a note is by tying it to another note. If we tie a quarter note to another quarter note that doubles the length of the quarter note. Now if you're thinking why not just write this as a half note, well we use this…

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