Splitting the beat
Every beat can be split in two. The halves are eighth notes, written with a flag and spoken as ti-ti. The split gets its own syllable: count "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &" and you're speaking eighths. Most grooves live in that "&".
Split the beat
Four quarter notes, then the same bar split into eighths. Count "1, 2, 3, 4" over the first: "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &" over the second.
Written: the flag and the '&'
An eighth note is a filled head with a flag. Mixed into a bar, the pair lands on a count and its '&'. Four hi-hat ticks count you in, then read along.
The hi-hat's whole job
In a real drum groove the hi-hat usually plays straight eighths: the ticking skeleton everything else hangs on. Here's that lane alone, with the playhead running.
Split it again: sixteenths
Halve an eighth and you get a sixteenth note: four per beat, counted "1 e & a".
Quiz
1 / 4An eighth note lasts…