{"id":203471,"date":"2023-01-20T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T14:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/?p=203471"},"modified":"2025-06-06T01:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T08:49:16","slug":"theory-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/theory-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"A Simple Guide to Ties in Music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We may have heard about \u2018tied\u2019 notes in music and wondered what this means.<br \/>\nOr we may have come across them in our pieces, and not known how to play them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"centerc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ru0sp7-dYJ0?rel=0&amp;modestbranding=1\" width=\"700\" height=\"393\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">?<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">What Do Tied Notes Look Like?<\/h2>\n<p>A musical \u2018tie\u2019 is a little curved line joining two notes together. It usually joins the note-heads rather than the stems. Some people call them \u2018umbrellas\u2019 or \u2018smiles\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The notes always have the same note name and pitch. (You can\u2019t tie together two notes an octave apart.)<br \/>\nAnd they are often on either side of a bar line, like this:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_203475\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-203475\" class=\"size-full wp-image-203475\" src=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-4.jpg\" alt=\"tied notes in music\" width=\"400\" height=\"83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-4.jpg 400w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-4-300x62.jpg 300w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-4-100x21.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-203475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A tie is a line connecting two of the same note, often across a bar line.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">But Aren\u2019t These Slurs?<\/h2>\n<p>Don\u2019t get these confused with slurs. <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/slurs\">Slurs are hammer-ons and pull-offs<\/a>. They may look the same on paper, but slurs (or ligados) are played differently.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A tie is always between two identical notes<\/li>\n<li>A slur is always between two different notes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_203473\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-203473\" class=\"wp-image-203473 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-2.jpg\" alt=\"difference between a tie and slur in music\" width=\"400\" height=\"83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-2.jpg 400w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-2-300x62.jpg 300w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-2-100x21.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-203473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ties connect two of the same pitch. Slurs connect two different pitches.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">What Does a Tie Do in Music?<\/h2>\n<p>The curved line connects the two notes and turns them into a single long note. This long note is then equal in length to the two joined notes.<\/p>\n<p>This means that you play the first, but don\u2019t play the second. You just let it ring on for the correct length of the note.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_203474\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-203474\" class=\"size-full wp-image-203474\" src=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-3.jpg\" alt=\"ties create longer note values\" width=\"400\" height=\"83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-3.jpg 400w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-3-300x62.jpg 300w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-notes-theory-3-100x21.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-203474\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two quarters tied together equals two beats, which is the same as a half note.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Why Doesn\u2019t the Composer Just Add the Two Notes Together?<\/h2>\n<p>The composer can\u2019t add the two notes together to make one long note, because of the bar line. There would be too many beats in the bar.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">How to Play Tied Notes<\/h2>\n<h3>Clap it first<\/h3>\n<p>The easiest way to work out how to play a tie is to first clap the rhythm. We <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/clap-count-rhythm\/\">count each beat aloud<\/a>, but only clap on the notes we actually play.<\/p>\n<p>When we reach the ones that are tied together, we <em>count<\/em> them both out loud but don\u2019t clap the second note (the \u2018tied\u2019 note).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_203472\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-203472\" class=\"size-full wp-image-203472\" src=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-1.jpg\" alt=\"how to count tied notes in music\" width=\"400\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-1-300x59.jpg 300w, https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tied-note-theory-1-100x20.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-203472\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Continue counting through the tie. You can say the held beat quietly to show it is tied.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Make the Tie Sound Joined<\/h3>\n<p>We can even change the way we count the tied note out loud. We can make our voices \u2018join\u2019 the tied beat to its neighbor.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018One, two, three, <em>fourrrr-one<\/em>, two three, four.\u2019<\/p>\n<h3>Write the Beats Over the Staff in Your Sheet Music<\/h3>\n<p>At first, it may be helpful to write the beat numbers over the staff. You can put brackets around the second (tied) beat if it makes it clear that it\u2019s counted, but not played.<\/p>\n<h3>Ties in Musical Phrasing<\/h3>\n<p>As we advance, we can use ties to play with more expression.\u00a0 \u00a0The way we place the first note of the tied pair can tell the listener that the note will last longer.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/beautiful-ties-and-syncopations\/\">Here&#8217;s a more advanced lesson on playing ties musically<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We may have heard about \u2018tied\u2019 notes in music and wondered what this means. Or we may have come across them in our pieces, and not known how to play them. ? What Do Tied Notes Look Like? A musical \u2018tie\u2019 is a little curved line joining two notes together. It usually joins the note-heads rather than the stems. Some &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/theory-ties\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,434],"tags":[351,349],"class_list":["post-203471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-main-content-parent","tag-rhythm","tag-theory"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Discover how to use Musical Ties in your pieces<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ties are commonly used in pieces. They make the value of rhythms longer. Here&#039;s a guide to understanding ties. 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