Whole And Half Notes

Now let's try combing the whole notes you already know with half notes. First let's grab our E minor chord and strum that twice as whole notes. Then we'll switch to our A minor chord and strum four half notes.

After that we'll repeat our two whole notes on E minor, then repeat our four half notes on A minor. After that we'll end on an E minor chord that we let ring.

Now let's try this together. I'll do a one-bar count-in (which you now know means 4 counts) and then we'll start the example. Feel free to just watch and listen before you start playing along, if you prefer.

Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Basic Rhythmic Subdivisions
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
Whole And Half Notes song notation

You need to be registered to ask our instructors a question.

Questions & Answers

8 months ago
Hello, did I miss something in a previous lesson? There is a repeat sign in the notation that I would have not known without looking it up. Should I have taken a music theory course before doing the fundamentals course for beginners?
Mike Olekshy 7 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Kudos to you for looking that up!! But really, no additional music theory course is required. With the Fundamentals Course, we are focused on getting you playing as soon as possible, so we did not worry about teaching the notation. If you play along with Anders, you realize that you repeat the chord progression again before ending the exercise with a strum on the Em chord.