When you listen to music you will notice that some notes sound longer than others. When we read music we know how long a note should last for by it's shape. You now know one count. Okay we are now going to learn three types of notes.
Lets try and illustrate a whole note.
If you look at the diagram below you will see that notes all have a start and finish, because this is a whole note it has four counts. Now look at the diagram and play a whole note again, try and visualize the start and finish of the note and the four counts that make up the length of the note. A Half note lasts for two counts. Generally the stem goes up below the third line of the staff. A Quarter note lasts for one count.