11.2 · The Pulse

The downbeat

Count along with almost any song and you'll land on 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4: beats gather into a bar, and beat 1, the downbeat, lands a little heavier than the rest.

Flat ticks vs. accented

The same eight clicks, twice: first flat, then with beat 1 accented. Only the second one has bars.

Bars, written down

A vertical barline closes each group of four, and beat 1 is always the note right after a line.

1 2 3 41 2 3 4

The heavy vertical strokes are barlines. Every "1" sits just after one.

Game · Catch beat 1

Start the count, then tap on every beat 1.

Quiz

1 / 3

A bar is…

Score 100% on every quiz and game to complete this lesson. A perfect run sticks: a later miss never undoes it.Marches & waltzes →