4/4 time
4 quarter notes per bar, stressed on 1 and 3. The most common time of all: pop, rock, hymns, most marches. With notation, sound and a metronome already set to 4/4 time.
- Counts
- 4 quarter notes
- Beats (as felt)
- 4 per bar
- Stressed
- 1, 3
- Groups
- 2+2
Two bars, counted
The upper number says how many counts the bar has (4), the lower which note is one count (quarter notes).
How to count
Count 1 2 3 4. With eighths in between: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
Start the metronome in 4/4 time
At 100 beats per minute, stressed as above — tempo and stress can be changed there.
Where it occurs
The most common time of all: pop, rock, hymns, most marches. The one is stressed, the three a little less — two half-bars taking turns. Often a C stands at the start instead of 4/4; it means the same.
Pieces on this site in this time
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Ode to Joy
- Jingle Bells
- Frère Jacques
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- It Is Well With My Soul
- O Come, All Ye Faithful
- What A Friend We Have In Jesus
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Angels We Have Heard On High
- Holy, Holy, Holy
- O Little Town of Bethlehem
- Abide With Me
- In The Bleak MidWinter
- Good King Wenceslas
- Crown Him With Many Crowns
- O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
- The Church's One Foundation
Related time signatures
In the glossary · Note values and rests · All time signatures
Anotona does this for you
Photograph a page of sheet music or play the melody — Anotona finds the key, engraves the notes and transposes them into any other. Free.
See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.