Melody using half note rests

Music Lesson: Half Note Rests

Introduction to Half Note Rests Example 2: We're using half note rests. These are the same as half notes in terms of their length, but rather than playing a note, we're being silent.

Backing Track This backing track is a little bit faster, so if you need to work on this one a bit more just to get it under your fingers, that's totally fine.

First Notes

• Looking at the first notes, we've got C, which we know now is the third fret on the A string.
• We're playing that twice as quarter notes followed by the rest.

Understanding Half Note Rests

• We know it's a half note rest because, as we said earlier, in learning to read the whole, it falls down; the half looks like a little hat above the line.
• If it was a whole note rest, there would be no room for any other notes.

Key Point

• If it's a whole note rest, it's going to take up the whole bar.
• Since we've got two notes before it, it can't be a whole note.

Playing Instructions

• We're playing the third fret on the A string: C twice.

Counting 1, 2, 3, 4.

• Silent for the second half of the bar.

Bar Two

• It's the same in bar two, except we're playing E, the octave up.
• This is our second fret on the D string, and we're holding this for two notes.

Repetition Let's try that again:
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 1, 2.

• On for half the bar, off for half the bar.

Bar Three This is a bit tricky going into bar three, as we start with a half note rest, meaning in total, we've got four beats of silence.

Importance of Counting

• This is why it's so important to count and to start every bar with a one.
• Otherwise, it gets a little bit tricky.

Next Notes

• Starting the next one, we're counting one, two, and as we count three, we're going to play our new notes, E on the D string (second fret) to the open D, finishing off with that C lasting for two beats, a half note.

Playing Together So I'll play you bars three and four:
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4.

Slow Practice Let's try it really slowly together, counting out loud:

• Count: One, two, three, four.
• One, two, three, four.
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.
• One, 2, 3, 4.
• 1, 2, 3, 4.

Reminder Again reminding us why it's so important to count in our heads or out loud.

Wrap Up Let's give it a go with the backing track. If you need some extra time, definitely slow it down and build up to the speed of the backing track as it is quite fast.