In 4/4 time, you can evenly fit 8 eighth notes into one measure. If we count quarter notes as "1,2,3,4" within a measure, we count eighth notes as "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &".
When playing or strumming eighth notes on guitar, you utilize alternate picking/strumming, playing all downbeats (numbers) as downstrokes and all upbeats (&’s) as upstrokes
A note that is played for one eighth the duration of a whole note
Written by Sam Blakelock
Updated over 4 years ago