Whole note(beats: 4 beats)A whole note has an open head and no stem. It lasts four beats in 4/4 time, a whole measure. British name: semibreve.
Whole rest(beats: 4 beats)A whole rest hangs under a line of the staff. It is a silence of four beats in 4/4 time. British name: semibreve rest.
Half note(beats: 2 beats)A half note has an open head and a stem. It lasts two beats in 4/4 time, half a measure. British name: minim.
Half rest(beats: 2 beats)A half rest sits on top of a line. It is a silence of two beats in 4/4 time. British name: minim rest.
Quarter note(beats: 1 beat)A quarter note has a filled head and a stem. It lasts one beat in 4/4 time. British name: crotchet.
Quarter rest(beats: 1 beat)A quarter rest is the zigzag sign. It is a silence of one beat in 4/4 time. British name: crotchet rest.
Eighth note(beats: Half a beat)An eighth note has a filled head, a stem and one flag. It lasts half a beat in 4/4 time, so two fill one beat. British name: quaver.
Eighth rest(beats: Half a beat)An eighth rest is a slanted stroke with one hook. It is a silence of half a beat in 4/4 time. British name: quaver rest.
Sixteenth note(beats: A quarter of a beat)A sixteenth note has a filled head, a stem and two flags. It lasts a quarter of a beat in 4/4 time, so four fill one beat. British name: semiquaver.
Sixteenth rest(beats: A quarter of a beat)A sixteenth rest is a slanted stroke with two hooks. It is a silence of a quarter of a beat in 4/4 time. British name: semiquaver rest.
Dotted half note(beats: 3 beats)A dot adds half of the note's own length. A half note of two beats plus one makes three beats in 4/4 time. British name: dotted minim.
Dotted quarter note(beats: 1 and a half beats)A dot adds half of the note's own length. A quarter note of one beat plus half a beat makes one and a half beats in 4/4 time. British name: dotted crotchet.
How this list was compiled: Names and shapes of the notes and rests in common use (whole-note: an open note-head without stem; half-note: open with stem; quarter-note: closed with stem; eighth-note: one hook; sixteenth-note: two hooks; the matching rests), the British names (semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver, semiquaver) and the dot that makes a note half again as long: Karl W. Gehrkens, Music Notation and Terminology (1914, public domain), Project Gutenberg ebook 19499, sections 28 to 33 and 49, read 2026-10-01; checked against Robert Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom, https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/DurationalSymbols.html and DotsAndTies.html (sections 4.2 and 4.3: in 4/4 a whole note fills a whole measure of four beats, a half note two beats, a quarter note a quarter of the measure; a dot adds half the duration), read 2026-10-01; and Wikipedia, Note value (each value half of the one before; British names), Whole note (the whole rest hangs under the second line from the top of the staff), Half note (the half rest sits on top of the middle line) and Dotted note, read 2026-10-01. Beats are stated for 4/4 time, where the quarter note is one beat. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain curves and lines: notes, flags and rests are own work. No font and nothing traced. Licence: own work
How it works
This note values quiz asks twelve symbols: the five notes from whole to sixteenth, the rest that matches each, and two dotted notes. Every question has two parts, the name and then the beats in 4/4 time.
Read the full guide
Read the beats off the shape
Start from the quarter note: a filled head on a stem, one beat in 4/4. Take something away and the note doubles. An open head makes a half note, and an open head with no stem a whole note. Add a flag and it halves: one flag for an eighth note, two for a sixteenth. A dot adds half of the note's own length.
The rests in a note value quiz
Five of the twelve are silences, each as long as the note it is named after. The whole rest is a small block hanging under a line, and the half rest the same block sitting on one. The quarter rest is the zigzag. The eighth and sixteenth rests are slanted strokes, with one hook and two.
Questions and answers
What is a note value in music?
It is how long a note lasts compared with the other notes. Each common value is half of the one before: whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth. Thirty-second notes are left out of this quiz.
Why is it called a quarter note?
Because it lasts a quarter as long as a whole note. The American names are fractions of the whole note: half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth. British musicians use other names: semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver, semiquaver.
Does a quarter note always get one beat?
No. The bottom number of a time signature says which note is counted. With a 4 there it is the quarter note; with a 2, as in 2/2, the half note is one beat and a whole note two. This quiz counts in 4/4.
How many eighth notes equal a quarter note?
Two. An eighth note lasts half a beat in 4/4 and a quarter note one beat. A sixteenth note lasts a quarter of a beat, so four of them equal a quarter note.