Triplets · From Zero to Mozart

A small 3 bracketed over a group of notes means: fit three of them into the time that two would normally take. The eighth-note triplet — three notes in one beat — is by far the most common.

Count it "1‑&‑a", or "1‑trip‑let", or "1‑la‑li" — three even syllables per beat. Whichever you use, the three notes are equal.

This should feel natural to you: it's the same three-in-the-space feel as compound time (6/8), and the same as tigun in tabla — the beat carrying three even strokes.

Two, then three, in the same beat

60 bpm

Beats 1 and 2: two even eighths each. Beats 3 and 4: three even notes each — the triplets, marked with a bracketed 3. Same beat length; three notes instead of two, so each triplet note is a touch quicker than an eighth.

The quarter-note triplet

The bracket works on any value. A quarter-note triplet fits three quarter notes evenly into the space of two beats.

60 bpm

Two plain quarters, then three notes spread evenly across beats 3 and 4. Harder to feel — say 'trip-a-let' slowly across the two beats, or split beats 3–4 into six even parts and play every other one.

Duple and triple, back to back

58 bpm

Beat 1: two eighths. Beat 2: a triplet. Beat 3: two eighths. Beat 4: a triplet. Switching cleanly between the two-feel and the three-feel without the pulse lurching is the whole skill here.

On the D string

54 bpm

Two quarters, then two eighth-note triplets, then a held note. Say 'trip-a-let, trip-a-let' for the fast bit. Keep the bow travelling evenly — three notes to a bow-length on each triplet.

The usual mistake

Playing the triplet as "long–short–short" (a dotted feel) or as "two notes plus a grace" — a triplet is three even notes. And rushing straight out of it back into the duple notes. Slow the whole thing right down until the three are genuinely equal, then bring the tempo up.