Time signatures explained for piano, from 4/4 to 6/8
A time signature is the pair of stacked numbers after the clef and key signature. The top number is how many beats are in each bar; the bottom number is the note value counted as one beat: 4 for a quarter note, 8 for an eighth, 2 for a half. So 4/4 is four quarter-note beats a bar and 3/4 is three. To count it, say the top number's worth of beats in every bar, leaning on beat 1.
Time signatures come in two families. Simple time (2/4, 3/4, 4/4 and 2/2) splits each beat in two, so you count "1 and 2 and". In compound time (6/8, 9/8 and 12/8) each beat splits in three, and the beat you feel is a dotted quarter. A large C means 4/4, and a C with a vertical line through it is cut time, 2/2: two half-note beats a bar.
Every complete bar adds up exactly to the time signature. The exception is a pickup bar at the start, whose missing beats usually turn up in the last bar.
Speed comes from the tempo word or metronome mark, never from the time signature. You'll find the time signature printed once, on the first line, rather than on every line like the key signature. If it changes partway through a piece, the new one lasts until the next change.
The top number counts beats and the bottom number names the note
| Bottom number | The note it names |
|---|---|
| 2 | Half note |
| 4 | Quarter note |
| 8 | Eighth note |
| 16 | Sixteenth note |
It looks like a fraction, but it's printed without a line and doesn't work like one: 3/4 and 6/8 both hold six eighth notes a bar, and you count them differently.
Any mix of notes and rests can fill a bar, as long as it adds up. In bar 1 of the Minuet in G, the right hand plays a quarter and four eighths over a half note and a quarter in the left; in bar 2, three quarters over a dotted half. Each comes to three beats. Note values and rests has every note length and how many beats it gets.
Simple time signatures split each beat in two
| Time signature | Beats per bar | Count it | Strong beats | A piece in it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/4 | 2 quarter notes | 1 and 2 and | 1 | The Entertainer, the Turkish March |
| 3/4 | 3 quarter notes | 1 and 2 and 3 and | 1 | Minuet in G, Gymnopédie No. 1, Amazing Grace |
| 4/4, or C | 4 quarter notes | 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and | 1, then 3 | Bach's Prelude in C, Ode to Joy |
| 2/2, or cut C | 2 half notes | 1 and 2 and, a number per half note | 1 | Moonlight Sonata, first movement |
| 3/2 | 3 half notes | 1 and 2 and 3 and, a number per half note | 1 | Handel's Hornpipe from the Water Music, some hymn tunes |
Joplin and Mozart wrote The Entertainer and the Turkish March in 2/4; easier arrangements often rewrite them in 4/4, so check your copy.
Cut time looks like 4/4, since four quarters fit in the bar, but you count it in two: a bar of quarters is "1 and 2 and". The Moonlight Sonata's first movement is in cut time, with twelve triplet eighths in the right hand each bar, six to a beat. At that slow tempo you can count quarters while learning, as long as the bar still feels like two big beats.
3/8 is simple time too: three eighth-note beats a bar. Für Elise is in 3/8, and at its flowing tempo each bar feels like one beat, so don't read it as 3/4 because the top numbers match.
Compound time signatures group the eighths in threes
6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 have two, three and four beats a bar, each a dotted quarter. The 8 still names the note you count, but the beat you'd tap your foot to is a group of three of them.
| Time signature | Beats you feel | Count it slowly | Count it at speed | A piece in it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/8 | 2 dotted quarters | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | 1-la-li 2-la-li | Silent Night as Gruber wrote it |
| 9/8 | 3 dotted quarters | 1 to 9 | 1-la-li 2-la-li 3-la-li | Clair de lune |
| 12/8 | 4 dotted quarters | 1 to 12 | 1-la-li 2-la-li 3-la-li 4-la-li | Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 |
While you learn, count every eighth, leaning on the first of each three. Once it moves, count beats with the eighths inside, "1-la-li" or "1 and a", and check your foot: two taps a bar in 6/8, four in 12/8. A bar of 12/8 looks like 4/4 with a triplet on every beat, written without the 3s.
Theory exams name a meter by both things: simple or compound, then duple, triple or quadruple for its beats a bar. So 3/4 is simple triple and 6/8 is compound duple.
Clair de lune is in 9/8, three dotted-quarter beats a bar. Nothing sounds on the downbeat of bar 1: the first notes come in on the second and third eighths and are held across the next beat. Count nine eighths aloud before you start, or the opening drifts.
3/4 and 6/8 look alike but are beamed differently
Both hold six eighths, so you tell them apart by the beaming: 2+2+2 (or all six together) in 3/4, and 3+3 in 6/8, one group per beat. The accents follow the groups, so 3/4 is strong on 1 only and 6/8 is strong on 1 and medium-strong on 4.
The left hand usually gives it away too. A 3/4 left hand marks three quarter-note beats: a waltz bass of note, chord, chord, or the low note and held chord of Gymnopédie No. 1. A 6/8 left hand moves in two groups of three eighths, often rocking long-short, a quarter then an eighth. Bar 1 of the first movement of Mozart's Sonata K. 331 has that in both hands: a dotted figure filling three eighths, then a quarter and an eighth.
Count one bar aloud before you play the first note
- Read the time signature and name the beat: a quarter in 3/4, a half in cut time, a dotted quarter in 6/8.
- Check for a pickup. Amazing Grace in 3/4 starts with a single quarter note, so count "1, 2" and come in on 3. The hymn's last bar usually holds the other two beats.
- Count one empty bar aloud at the speed you can play the hardest bar.
- Tap the first line's rhythm, hands together, on your knees, still counting.
- Play it slowly, counting out loud.
- Watch for a new time signature, or a C, partway through, and recount from there.
The usual slips: reading 3/8 as 3/4, counting six even eighths in a fast 6/8 instead of feeling two, and playing cut time in four so it drags.
If you teach, have your student count out loud, where you can check it, and pencil the counts above any bar they rushed. The time signature is part of the thirty-second scan in the sight-reading routine.
FAQ
Is 6/8 the same as 3/4?
No. Both hold six eighth notes a bar, but 3/4 has three quarter-note beats, beamed in pairs, and 6/8 has two dotted-quarter beats, beamed in threes and accented on the first and fourth eighths. The same tune can be written either way: Franz Gruber wrote Silent Night in 6/8, and you'll also find it printed in 3/4.
What does the C time signature mean?
A C in place of the numbers means 4/4, called common time. The sign comes from medieval notation, where a full circle meant a note divided in three and a broken circle, the C, a note divided in two, so the letter only happens to match the word "common". A C with a vertical line through it is cut time, or alla breve: 2/2, two half-note beats a bar.
What is the most common time signature?
4/4 is the most common, then 3/4. Most pop songs are in 4/4, which is also called common time and can be written as a large C. 3/4 is the meter of waltzes, minuets and many hymns.
How do you find the time signature of a song you only hear?
Find the pulse you'd clap to and count the beats from one strong beat to the next, usually two, three or four. Then listen to how each beat divides: in two is simple time, in three (a lilt) is compound, so a lilting two-beat bar is 6/8. PlayableNotes can't do this for you: it reads printed music and doesn't listen to recordings.
Can a piece change time signature partway through?
Yes. The new time signature appears at the start of a bar and lasts until the next one; a small courtesy signature at the end of the line before often warns you. The Promenade that opens Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition alternates bars of 5/4 and 6/4 from the start.
Uneven meters like 5/4 split into unequal groups, 3+2 or 2+3, and 7/8 often goes 2+2+3. The beaming shows which, so count the small groups and lean on the first note of each.
Hearing the meter in PlayableNotes
Several pieces in this post are in the free library of about 320 public-domain pieces: the Minuet in G, Chopin's Nocturne No. 2 in 12/8, Handel's Water Music Hornpipe in 3/2, Mussorgsky's Promenade in 5/4 and 6/4 (listed as Bilder einer Ausstellung), and Mozart's 6/8 theme from K. 331 (search the library for K. 331: it's listed as the Turkish March, but the score is the first movement's theme).
Each one plays with a sampled piano and lights up every note as it sounds, so you can count along, and you can download it as a PDF to pencil in the counts. Open your own copy to set the tempo, then send a student a practice link: it opens without an account, plays at any tempo, loops one bar, and plays the left hand alone, where the meter is usually clearest. There's no count-in, so count yourself in.
All of that is free. Reading your own photo or PDF costs 1 credit per line of music; it reads two-staff piano music, so check the result against the page.
Try counting along with a page of your own music in your projects: new accounts start with 50 free credits.