How to Play an Eighth Note

An eighth note, also referred to as a quaver, is written as a solid oval note head with a single flag to the right of the note stem. Two eighth notes are equal to the duration of a single quarter note, which makes it one eighth of a whole note. The easiest way to play eighth notes on the keyboard is to count out loud until you learn their relationship to other notes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Metronome
• Keyboard

1. Read the time signature for your piece of music. For this example, a 2/4 time signature is assumed, and four eighth notes are played. This time signature indicates that the quarter note sets the beat, and there are two beats per measure.

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

3. Press your key on the count of "one," press again on the first "and."

4. Push your key on the count of "two," and press again on the second "and."

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, if you set your metronome on the quarter note beat, you will be playing two notes per beat.
• To play eighth notes while counting "one-and, two-and" you will be pressing your key four times, one with every word.
• An eighth rest has the same duration as an eight note and resembles the number 7. When reading music, you refrain from playing for that amount of time.
• Don't set your beat too fast to start out. It will be much easier to increase your speed if you have correctly learned the notes at a slower pace.