Piano Rhythm Exercises
Wrong notes announce themselves. Rhythm does not: a dotted figure played at 2:1 instead of 3:1 sounds fine from the piano stool and wrong from anywhere else. Every figure below is written as an exact ratio, with the fault that usually spoils it, so you can check what you are actually playing rather than what you think you are.
Reviewed August 2026. Every figure below is given as an exact ratio, which holds whatever the time signature; where a count is quoted in beats it says which metre it assumes. Written for exam students, AMEB included; the figures here are general musicianship rather than syllabus-specific, so for what your own grade requires, check your current syllabus. Not affiliated with AMEB.
Practise scales freeNote values, and the only arithmetic you need
Counted in a bar of 4/4, where the crotchet (quarter note) gets one beat:
| British | American | Beats | Per bar of 4/4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semibreve | Whole note | 4 | 1 |
| Minim | Half note | 2 | 2 |
| Crotchet | Quarter note | 1 | 4 |
| Quaver | Eighth note | ½ | 8 |
| Semiquaver | Sixteenth note | ¼ | 16 |
A dot adds half the note's value again
That is the whole rule, and it is where most rhythm errors start. Read it in note values, which never change: a dotted crotchet is a crotchet plus a quaver, so three quavers. A dotted minim is three crotchets. A dotted quaver is three semiquavers. A second dot adds half again of the first dot, making the note 1¾ times its written value.
How many beats that comes to depends on the time signature. In 4/4 a dotted crotchet is 1½ beats, not "a bit longer than a crotchet". In 6/8 that same dotted crotchet is one whole beat. Same note, different count, which is why the 6/8 section below is worth reading before you count anything in it.
The consequence people miss: a dotted quaver followed by a semiquaver is a 3:1 ratio. The long note is three times the short one, not twice. Playing it nearer 2:1 is called under-dotting, and it is the single most common rhythmic fault in student playing.
A triplet is three notes in the time of two
Not three notes played faster. Three triplet quavers take exactly one crotchet, the same beat that would otherwise hold two ordinary quavers, so the beat is divided in three instead of two. It is a different feel rather than a different speed. Say "straw-ber-ry" on each beat and the grouping arrives without any arithmetic at all.
The figures worth drilling
These are the rhythmic cells that turn up again and again in real repertoire. Each is given as the ratio between its notes, because that is what your hands actually have to produce.
Start here
| Figure | What it is | Ratio | The usual fault |
|---|---|---|---|
| Even quavers | Every note the same length | 1:1 | None to fix, but nothing else means anything until this is clean. It is the ruler everything else is measured against. |
| Dotted rhythm (long-short) |
Dotted quaver + semiquaver | 3:1 | Under-dotting: playing nearer 2:1 and calling it dotted. |
| Lombard (the Scotch snap) |
Semiquaver + dotted quaver | 1:3 | Letting the short note drift ahead of the beat. It lands on the beat, which is what makes it snap rather than sound like a pickup. |
| Dotted at the crotchet | Dotted crotchet + quaver | 3:1 | Hurrying the dot. Identical shape to the dotted quaver figure, twice as slow, and reading it is a separate skill from playing it. |
Next
| Figure | What it is | Ratio | The usual fault |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dactyl (long-short-short) |
Quaver + two semiquavers | 2:1:1 | Releasing the long note late, so the two short ones are crowded. |
| Anapaest (short-short-long) |
Two semiquavers + quaver | 1:1:2 | Letting the second short note sag. The pair must stay even. |
| Amphibrach (short-long-short) |
Quaver + crotchet + quaver | 1:2:1 | Clipping the closing short note to get to the next group. It is the same length as the first. |
| Swung quavers | Written even, played long-short | about 2:1 | Swinging it as hard as a dotted rhythm. If it sounds like a march, you have gone too far. |
| Compound skip (6/8) |
Crotchet + quaver inside a dotted-crotchet beat | 2:1 | Playing it 3:1 like a dotted rhythm. In 6/8 the beat divides into three, so the skip is gentler. |
| Siciliana (6/8) |
Dotted quaver + semiquaver + quaver | 3:1:2 | Marching it. The snap has to stay soft. |
Harder
| Figure | What it is | Ratio | The usual fault |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triplet quavers | Three quavers in the time of two | 1:1:1 per beat | Playing them as a fast pair plus one. The whole group takes exactly one crotchet. |
| Tresillo (three-three-two) |
Eight semiquavers grouped 3 + 3 + 2 | 3:3:2 | Losing the bar. Only the first of each group lands on a beat, and it still adds to four. |
| Habanera | Dotted quaver + semiquaver + two quavers | 3:1:2:2 | Two disciplines in one bar: the dotted pair must stay a true 3:1 while the closing quavers stay dead even. |
| Cretic (long-short-long) |
Crotchet + quaver + crotchet | 2:1:2 | Crushing the middle note. It is a real quaver, exactly half of each long note. |
| Syncopation | Accents land where the beat is not | varies | Playing it without an internal pulse, at which point it just sounds like wrong notes. Count out loud through it. |
| Three against two | One beat divided in three, the next in two | 3 then 2 | Letting the beat itself move. Only what is inside it changes. |
Three things almost everyone gets wrong
Dotted is not swing
A dotted rhythm is 3:1 and is written that way on the page. Swing is roughly 2:1 and is written as plain even quavers, with the unevenness supplied by the player as a convention. Students miss this in both directions: they swing dotted rhythms too softly and play swing too hard. Worth knowing that French Baroque players did exactly the same thing to evenly written quavers three centuries earlier, and called it notes inegales.
6/8 is not a fast waltz
6/8 is compound duple: two beats in the bar, each one a dotted crotchet that divides into three quavers. It is not six little beats, and it is not 3/4 played quickly. Count it in two and the jigs, barcarolles and sicilianas start to lilt instead of trudge.
A triplet is a division, not a speed
If your triplets sound rushed, you are probably playing two quavers and squeezing a third in at the end. The fix is not to slow the notes down but to feel the beat split three ways before you play it.
How to practise a rhythm you cannot play
- Get it away from the piano first. Clap it, or tap it on your knee, while counting out loud. A rhythm you cannot clap is not a piano problem yet.
- Count the subdivision, not the beat. For a dotted quaver and semiquaver, count in semiquavers: "one-two-three-four" and the short note lands on four. The ratio stops being a guess.
- Put the metronome on the subdivision. Set it ticking quavers, or semiquavers, and fit the figure between the clicks. Then halve it back to the beat once the shape is secure.
- Reverse it. Practise the passage long-short, then short-long. Coming back to the written rhythm afterwards, it is noticeably steadier.
- One hand at a time, then together. Two hands with different subdivisions is a separate skill from either hand alone, and mixing the two problems just hides which one you have.
Practising scales in rhythms
The classic technique builder: take a scale you already know and play it in a dotted rhythm, then in the reverse snap, then in triplets. It forces different fingers to carry the weight, exposes the fingers that were quietly getting a free ride, and does more for evenness than another dozen straight run-throughs. It is a practice technique rather than an exam requirement, so use it where it helps and drop it when it stops.
Hear the work pay off in your scales
The figures above are practice tools; the place they pay off is a steadier scale. Scales & Tech grades every scale take note by note - pitch, timing and evenness - so you can see whether the run really is as even as it felt from the piano stool.
Pick a key, a scale, the octaves and the hands, and play it. No account needed to start, and no piano handy is fine: the typing keyboard works for a first try.
Practise scales free