What a triplet is
A triplet is three notes played in the time normally taken by two notes of the same value. It is written as three notes with a small 3 above or below them, usually with a bracket or a beam. A quaver triplet squeezes three even notes into one crotchet beat where two quavers would normally go; the beat does not change length, the notes inside it do.
- A triplet is three notes in the time of two, marked with a small 3 over the group.
- A quaver triplet fills one beat with three equal notes; a crotchet triplet fills two beats with three equal notes.
- Count triplets “1-and-a 2-and-a” or “tri-pl-et”, three even syllables per beat, with the first syllable exactly on the tap.
- A whole bar of quaver triplets in 4/4 sounds exactly like a bar of 12/8.
Triplets belong to a family of groupings called tuplets: any number of notes squeezed into the space of a different number. Triplets are by far the commonest, duplets (two in the time of three) are the next, and quintuplets and sextuplets turn up in harder repertoire. The principle is always the same. The beat stays where it was; the notes inside it are divided differently from usual.
How to count triplets
Count a quaver triplet as three even syllables on one beat, with the first syllable exactly on the beat. “1-and-a 2-and-a 3-and-a 4-and-a” is the standard; “tri-pl-et” and “1-la-li” do the same job. Whatever you say, the number must land on your foot tap, and the other two syllables must be evenly spaced before the next tap.
The thing to protect is the beat. A beginner counts a triplet by thinking about the three notes, and the three notes are not the point; the beat they fit inside is. Tap the beat at a slow, steady pace, say a plain “1, 2, 3, 4” on the taps, then start adding “and-a” between them without letting the taps move. If the taps speed up, the triplet has won and you have lost.
A useful word trick: say “straw-ber-ry” on each beat. Three even syllables, naturally stressed on the first, and nobody says it unevenly. “Pine-ap-ple” works too. Say the word on the tap, four times, and you have played a bar of quaver triplets.
Quaver triplets, crotchet triplets and duplets
Quaver triplets are the common kind: three quavers under a 3, lasting one crotchet beat together. Crotchet triplets are three crotchets under a 3, lasting two crotchet beats together, so each note is two-thirds of a beat. Duplets are the reverse: two notes under a 2 in the space of three, met in compound time such as 6/8.
Crotchet triplets are the ones that trip people up, because none of the three notes after the first lands on a beat. The second note falls two-thirds of the way through beat one; the third note falls one-third of the way through beat two. The reliable way in is to count quaver triplets across the two beats, “1-and-a 2-and-a”, and play a note on every second syllable: 1-and-a 2-and-a. Three notes, evenly spaced across two beats. Once you can hear it, you can drop the subdivision.
Duplets turn the trick around. In 6/8, a beat is a dotted crotchet made of three quavers. A duplet, two quavers with a small 2 over them, splits that beat into two equal halves instead of three. Count the beat in two, “1-and”, against the underlying swing. Duplets are what make a 6/8 tune briefly sound square, and composers use them for exactly that.
Triplets in 4/4 versus the same feel in 12/8
A bar of 4/4 filled entirely with quaver triplets has four beats, each divided into three, which is the definition of 12/8. The two notations sound identical. Composers choose 4/4 with triplets when the triple feel comes and goes, and 12/8 when the whole piece lives in it, because a page with a 3 over every beat is tiring to read.
Slow blues, doo-wop ballads and a lot of gospel are written in 12/8 for this reason. A shuffle or a swing tune is often written in plain 4/4 with straight quavers and a note at the top saying “swing”: the quavers are played long-short, roughly as the first and third notes of a triplet, and writing every pair as a triplet with a tied first note would be absurd. So the same lilt has three spellings: triplets, 12/8, or swung quavers. If a bar in 4/4 has triplets all the way through, count it as if it were 12/8 and it will read itself.
A worked example
Take a 4/4 bar in which beat one is two ordinary quavers, beat two is a quaver triplet, beat three is a crotchet, and beat four is two ordinary quavers again. Written out, the bar adds up by beats, not by notes: two quavers (one beat) plus a triplet (one beat) plus a crotchet (one beat) plus two quavers (one beat) is four. Count it aloud: “1-and, 2-and-a, 3, 4-and”.
The only difficult join is from beat one into beat two. Two straight quavers are “1-and”, two even halves; the triplet that follows is three even thirds. Your foot taps the same on 1 and on 2, but the notes between the taps change from two to three. The way to practise it is to isolate the pair: tap, “1-and”, tap, “2-and-a”, tap, over and over, until the change in density does not move the tap. Then the return from the triplet to the crotchet on beat three is easy, because a crotchet is just the tap with nothing after it.
Now hear it. Played right, the bar has a small swell in the middle where the notes thicken and then open out again. Played wrong, beat two comes early and the whole bar lurches. Hearing the bar at half speed makes the difference obvious in a way that counting alone never quite does.
Beginner mistakes
- Rushing the triplet. The big one. Three notes feel like more to do, so the beat gets shortened to fit them, and beat two arrives early. Fix: the foot is in charge. Count the beat aloud, slowly, and make the triplet fit the beat rather than the other way round.
- Playing it as dotted or swung. Long-short-short, or long-short, instead of three even notes. Fix: say “straw-ber-ry” on the beat; the word will not let you make it uneven.
- Losing the pulse in crotchet triplets. Because two of the three notes are off the beat, players drift. Fix: subdivide into quaver triplets, play every second note, then stop saying the subdivision once the shape is in your hand.
A two-minute drill
- Twos against the tapTap a slow beat and say “1-and 2-and 3-and 4-and”. Thirty seconds. Plain quavers.
- Threes against the same tapWithout changing the tap, switch to “1-and-a 2-and-a 3-and-a 4-and-a”. Thirty seconds. If the tap speeds up, go back to step one.
- Alternate by the barOne bar of twos, one bar of threes, round and round, same tap. Sixty seconds. This is the skill: changing the subdivision without moving the beat.
Hear your own bar
The drill trains your ear in general. The bar on your stand is particular, and you can check it directly. Photograph the page in Sheetly, press play on the bar with the triplet, and slow it to half speed: at half speed the three notes are unmistakably even and the beat after them is unmistakably on time, and you can tap along until your tap agrees. Loop the bar and the one before it until the change from twos to threes stops moving your foot. Then ask the coach how to count it and get the counting for that bar. Photograph it, hear it, understand it, practise it.
Hear the triplet played evenly.
Photograph the page, press play on the bar, slow it to half speed and loop it until the three notes sit inside the beat. Free to download on iPhone and iPad.
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When you get stuck
Sheetly is the only iPhone and iPad app we know of where the AI coach has read the actual notes of the page you photographed, so a question about bar 12 gets an answer about your bar 12. Triplet questions are always about a particular bar: which notes are in the group, where the beat falls, what to count.
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Free to download · iPhone and iPadQuestions
What is a triplet in music?
A triplet is a group of three notes played in the time normally taken by two notes of the same value. It is marked with a small 3 over or under the group, often with a bracket. A quaver triplet fills one crotchet beat with three equal notes instead of two; a crotchet triplet fills two beats with three equal notes instead of two.
How do you count triplets?
Count a quaver triplet with three even syllables on one beat: tri-pl-et or 1-and-a, then 2-and-a for the next beat. Keep the beat steady in your foot and fit the three syllables evenly inside it, so the first note of every triplet lands exactly on the tap. If the syllables are uneven, the triplet is wrong.
What is the difference between a triplet and a dotted rhythm?
A triplet divides the beat into three equal parts. A dotted quaver and semiquaver divide the beat into two unequal parts, three-quarters and one-quarter. A swung pair, long-short, sits between the two and is usually written as plain quavers. The triplet is even; the dotted rhythm is sharply uneven; swing is gently uneven.
What is a duplet?
A duplet is the opposite of a triplet: two equal notes played in the time normally taken by three. Duplets appear in compound time such as 6/8, where a beat naturally splits into three quavers; a duplet, marked with a small 2, splits that beat into two equal halves instead. Two notes in the time of three.
Why are triplets in 4/4 sometimes rewritten in 12/8?
Because a bar of 4/4 filled with quaver triplets sounds identical to a bar of 12/8: four beats, each divided into three. Writing the piece in 12/8 removes every triplet bracket and makes the page easier to read. Composers use 4/4 with triplets when the triple feel is occasional, and 12/8 when the whole piece is in it, as in a slow blues.