How to Play a Quarter Note

A quarter note, also called a crotchet, is the most basic of music notes. It is written with a solid oval note head and straight line note stem. The duration of a quarter note is relied upon for counting the larger half and whole notes. Learning how to play quarter notes on a keyboard is essential for being able to play smaller and larger notes. In other words, the quarter note beat sets the standard for the other notes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Metronome
• Keyboard

1. Pay attention to the time signature if you are reading music. For this example, a 2/4 time signature is used and two quarter notes will be played. This time signature indicates that the quarter note sets the beat, and there are two beats per measure.

2. Start a metronome and begin counting "one, two, one, two" to the beat of the metronome. To keep a steady beat without a metronome, repeat the phrase, "One-and, two-and, one-and, two-and" to set the quarter note beat.

3. Press your key on the count of "one."

4. Release the key after the first "and."

5. Depress your key again on the count of "two."

6. Remove your finger from the key after the second "and."

Tips & Warnings

• Adjust your metronome to a slower tempo until you are comfortable playing quarter notes. You can change it to a faster beat once you get the hang of it. Also, the length of a quarter note in one piece of music is not necessarily going to be the same for the next piece of music.
• A quarter rest has a funny shape that almost resembles the number three. For the duration of the quarter rest, which is the same as the quarter note, you refrain from playing.