Pick-up Notes

Pick-up notes are notes that precede the first complete measure of music. In a count-off, pick-up note(s) would begin somewhere other than on the downbeat of beat one. In this example the pick-up note begins on the third beat.

 

The next example begins with three pick-up notes. In the count-off, the first pick-up note falls on beat two.

 

When pick-up notes precede the first full measure of a song, the notes are considered part of a pick-up measure. The pick-up measure does not contain the full number of beats required by the time signature. The missing beats are included in another incomplete measure at the end of the song.

Pick-up notes may occur in places other than the beginning of a piece of music. Each phrase in the following example begins with pick-up notes.