Now another way to increase the notes value is by using a tie. A tie does just what its name suggests it ties two notes together. You hear the second note joined to the first notes value, so it sounds like one note. To illustrate a half note tied to a coordinate would sound like a dotted half note, three beats in total. A quarter note tied to an eighth note would sound like a dotted quarter note, one and a half beats in total. An eighth note tied to a 16th note would sound like a dotted eighth note, three quarters of a beat in total.

Now we're going to take our example of dotted notes from before and write them as tied notes instead, you'll see how they're interchangeable and sound identical. Notice how we've replaced the dotted half node with a half node tied to a quarter note in the first bar. In the second bar, we've replaced the dotted quarter note with a quarter note tied to an eighth note In the third bar, we've replaced the dotted eighth note with an eighth note tied to a 16th note. In the fourth bar, we've got a combination of coordinates tied to eighth notes, and eighth notes to 16th notes to replace dotted quarter notes and dotted eighth notes. I'm sure it makes sense that the version with ties would sound exactly like the version with dotted notes. It's just a different way to write the same piece of music.

Let's compare the two First we'll listen to the version with dotted notes. And then we'll compare it to the version with tied notes. And now the version with Todd notes. So when would you use dotted notes and when would you use ties. The general rule of thumb is to use dotted notes in most cases, since then is simpler to read for most people. There are a few exceptions.

Let's look at the first one. If you have a dotted note, which blurs the lines between the second and the third beat of a bar, it's better to use a tie. This first example shows a quarter note followed by a dotted quarter note, followed by three eighth notes. As you can see, although the note values in the bar equals four beats, it's fairly tricky to see where the third beat lies. Another way to write this would be to use a quarter note, followed by a quarter note tied to the first eighth note of the third beat. This way the third beat can be clearly seen, and it would be a neater way to write this phrasing in my opinion.

In other places you might be required to use a tie would be if you want to notice a stain from one bar into the next bar. Let's have a look. At the end of the second bar, we have an eighth note tied to a half note in the next bar. This means that you should play the eighth note and sustain it for its own duration, ie half a beat, as well as the duration of the half note in the following bar. At the end of the third bar, we have a similar situation in other eighth notes tied to the following bar, but this time it's tied to a whole note. As I'm sure you've guessed, this means that you should play the value of the eighth note as well as sustaining it for the duration of the whole note in the fourth bar.

Here's how you play through this example. To sum up, use dotted notes wherever possible, but use ties if it helps to delineate the beats in a bar more clearly. Of course to extend notes across bar lines make use of ties. Whether you choose to use dots or ties when you're notating music, the deciding factor should always be whether or not the use of either makes the music easier to read.