Ahhh more sixteenth rests…. This one can throw your hands all out of whack starting at beat three.

To begin we have a sixteenth rest on beat one followed by a dotted eighth which is our “e” of one. Don’t forget to give the “e” its full duration, taking the place of the “and” and the “a” of one. Next you play the phrase “two e — a” leaving out the “and” in this one. On beat three we rest and immediately come in on the “e” and skip the “and” to play the next sixteenth which is the “a”. You would say this phrase as “e — a” giving the “e” just enough added length to cover the place of the “and”. Lastly we have the same phrase as the beginning of our piece. Rest on beat four and immediately play the “e”. Again, we want to give the “e” its full duration covering the space of “and” and “a”.

Think of this as speaking a language. Once you’ve studied all note values, subdivisions, and rests you should check out my post Speaking Rhythmic Notation which will provide you with a free downloadable PDF of a chart I’ve made to help you memorize each of these 16th combinations by using words and phrases.