Notation & Symbols

Notehead

Definition

A notehead is the oval part of a written note. Its position on the staff shows the pitch, and whether it is open (hollow) or filled in helps show how long the note lasts.

The notehead is the part of a note you read first. It is a slightly tilted oval placed on a line or in a space of the staff, and everything else, the stem and any flag or beam, is attached to it.

Two treble-clef examples in 4/4. The first shows a whole note A, then a half note and two quarter notes on A. The second shows quarter notes E, F, G and A, labeled L, S, L, S for line and space. — Left: an open whole note, an open half note and two filled quarter notes, all on A. Right: noteheads on a line (L) and in a space (S), alternating: E, F, G and A.

What the notehead tells you

Pitch. A notehead on a line has the line running through its middle. A notehead in a space fits between two lines and touches both. The clef decides which letter each position stands for.
Length, together with the stem. An open (hollow) notehead with no stem is a whole note; an open notehead with a stem is a half note. A filled notehead with a stem is a quarter note, and flags or beams make it shorter still.

Line or space?

Most note-reading mistakes come from misjudging whether a notehead is on a line or in a space, especially around ledger lines. Look for the line through the middle: if a line cuts the notehead in half, it is a line note; if lines touch its top and bottom, it is a space note.

Noteheads in chords

In a chord, the noteheads are stacked on one shared stem. Two notes a second apart are too close to sit exactly on top of each other, so one moves to the other side of the stem, and the higher of the two is the one on the right. They still sound together.

One treble-clef bar in 4/4 with two half-note chords. The first, F and G, has its stem up, with G placed to the right of the stem. The second, C and D, has its stem down, with C placed to the left of the stem and D to the right. — Two chords that each contain a second: F with G, then C with D. The notes of a second cannot share one spot on the stem, so the higher notehead sits to the right of the stem in both chords, whether the stem points up or down.

Other notehead shapes

Not every notehead is an oval:

Three one-bar staves. The first is a percussion staff with a neutral clef of two thick vertical bars, and has four quarter notes with x-shaped noteheads just above the top line. The second has two half notes with diamond-shaped noteheads. The third has four quarter notes with slanted slash noteheads on the middle line. — Left: x noteheads, as used for the hi-hat and cymbals in a drum part. Middle: diamond noteheads, as used for string harmonics. Right: slash noteheads, which show a rhythm to play without fixing the pitches. These figures have no audio because a piano cannot show what the shapes mean.

x noteheads are common in drum kit parts for cymbals and the hi-hat. In guitar music they mark muted, percussive notes, and in vocal music they can mean spoken rather than sung words.
Diamond noteheads often show harmonics on string instruments, or, in piano music, keys pressed down without sounding.
Slash noteheads show rhythm without pitch. On a lead sheet or a rhythm-section part they mean "keep playing the chords in this rhythm".

Practice open and filled noteheads with The half note and The whole note.

Common questions

What is the difference between an open and a filled notehead?

An open (hollow) notehead belongs to a whole note or a half note. A filled notehead belongs to a quarter note or anything shorter.

What does an x notehead mean?

It depends on the instrument: a cymbal or hi-hat in drum music, a muted percussive note on guitar, or a spoken word in vocal music. The part usually explains it at the start.