# Reading rhythm on the staff

*Module 3 · Lesson 4: Reading music for bass · BazzLow*

> Read note values, rests and beams on the staff and play them in time.

Before this lesson: [2.6 Dots and ties](https://bazzlow.com/en/rhythm-1/dots-and-ties/) · [3.2 The staff and the bass clef](https://bazzlow.com/en/reading-music/staff-and-bass-clef/)

On the staff, one symbol carries two pieces of information at once: where it sits tells you the pitch, and its shape tells you how long it lasts.

## Position and shape

A note’s **position** gives the pitch. Its shape (**notehead**, **stem**, **flags**) gives the length. The note values are the ones you learned in lesson 2.2.

## Stems and beams

- Notes below the middle line usually have the stem going **up**, on the right side of the head.
- Notes on or above the middle line usually have it going **down**, on the left side.
- The direction does not change the length.
- **Beams** replace flags for groups of eighths and sixteenths, and normally show the beats.

## Rests on the staff

- The whole rest hangs below the 4th line.
- The half rest sits on the middle line.
- A whole rest also means “a whole bar of rest”, in any time signature.

> **Diagram:** Four bars of 4/4 on the open strings. Bar 1: E half note, two A quarter notes. Bar 2: four D eighth notes in two beamed pairs, then a G and an E quarter note. Bar 3: A quarter note, half rest, D quarter note. Bar 4: a whole-bar rest. Beat numbers are written under each bar.

## A reading order

When you meet a new line of music, read it in this order: first find the beat (time signature, beams), then the pitches, then play slowly with a metronome.

## Try it

Play the four bars above at 60 BPM, counting aloud. Raise the tempo only when every note and rest is in the right place.

## New terms

- stem
- flag
- notehead
- whole-bar rest

Page: https://bazzlow.com/en/reading-music/reading-rhythm-on-the-staff/