What are sixteenth notes?
Sixteenth notes are the little fast ones — the notes that make a rhythm feel busy and exciting. They look intimidating with all those flags and beams, but they follow one simple rule. Once you hear how they fit inside a beat, they click.
A sixteenth note is just a very short note. It gets its name because it lasts one-sixteenth of a whole note. That sounds technical, but it lands in a friendly place: in common time, you play four sixteenth notes per beat. Let's see exactly how that works.
Learn it by playing
You'll remember note values far faster by doing than by reading. Our free arcade turns rhythm into quick games — keep this guide open and jump in whenever.
What a sixteenth note looks like
A single sixteenth note has three parts: a filled-in head, a stem, and two flags curling off the end of the stem. That double flag is the giveaway — one flag means an eighth note, two flags mean a sixteenth.
You'll rarely see them flying solo, though. When sixteenths come in a row, they're beamed together with two thick horizontal bars instead of separate flags. A group of four beamed sixteenths is one of the most common sights in sheet music, and it fills exactly one beat.
How long does a sixteenth note last?
Note values work by halving. Each note value is half the length of the one before it:
- Whole note — 4 beats
- Half note — 2 beats
- Quarter note — 1 beat
- Eighth note — half a beat
- Sixteenth note — a quarter of a beat
So in 4/4 time, where the quarter note gets one beat, four sixteenth notes equal one quarter note. Two sixteenths equal one eighth note. If you can already feel a steady beat, sixteenths are just that beat sliced into four even pieces.
How to count sixteenth notes
The standard way to count four sixteenths in a beat is "one-e-and-a" (often written 1 e & a). Say it out loud, evenly:
- "one" lands on the beat,
- "e" is the second sixteenth,
- "and" is the third (the same "and" you'd use for eighth notes),
- "a" is the fourth.
For the next beat it's "two-e-and-a," then "three-e-and-a," and "four-e-and-a." The key is keeping all four syllables perfectly even. Tap your foot on the numbers and squeeze the e, and, a evenly between the taps.
Mixed sixteenth rhythms
Sixteenths get interesting when they're combined with eighths inside a single beat. Two of the most common patterns:
- Eighth + two sixteenths — counted "one — and-a." The first sound is long, then two quick ones.
- Two sixteenths + eighth — counted "one-e-and." Two quick sounds, then a longer one.
Notice that both patterns still fit exactly one beat. The "one-e-and-a" grid never changes — you're just choosing which of those four slots get a sound and which get held over.
A simple plan to master them
- Count out loud — say "one-e-and-a" on a steady beat before you ever play.
- Clap the grid — clap all four sixteenths, then drop some claps to make patterns.
- Use a metronome — start slow enough that all four stay even, then speed up.
- Quiz yourself out of order — name and match rhythm symbols away from the page.
Rhythm Match
Match each rhythm symbol to its name — whole, half, quarter, dotted notes, eighths, sixteenths, and the rests. Fast, free, no instrument needed.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a sixteenth note?
In 4/4 time, where a quarter note gets one beat, a sixteenth note lasts a quarter of a beat. Four sixteenth notes fit into the space of one quarter note, so you play four of them per beat.
How do you count sixteenth notes?
The most common way is "one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a," and so on. The number is the beat, "e" and "a" are the in-between sixteenths, and "and" is the half-beat. Keep all four syllables perfectly even.
What do sixteenth notes look like?
A single sixteenth note has a filled head, a stem, and two flags. When several appear in a row they are joined with a double beam instead of separate flags, which makes fast passages easier to read.
Keep learning: Note values & rests · Read the treble clef · all guides · more articles