A triplet∞ is a musical term relating to a note duration which has three notes for every beat. For example 12 triplets would fit in one measure of 4/4 time, as would 24 16th triplets (or 24th notes), which has 6 notes for every beat. The term is more often used in Guitar Hero to signify a repetitive ascending or descending pattern of three notes, such as:



Sometimes, the term is incorrectly used to explain sections such as Hard Rain in Raining Blood, which is actaully a gallop and has the following pattern:



The correct way to notate such patterns is "A repeating pattern consisting of three notes and one rest of the same duration" (a 16th note duration in this case), although triplet is much easier to say.

Usually, you can "feel" the rhythm of triplets, and to speak the rhythm, you could say "tri-po-let" for every note with a rhythm and the notes will fit, but some sections such as Misirlou's intro have triplets in the musical meaning, since it contains 3 notes per beat despite not having a very understandable pattern. Basically, triplets can refer solely to 3 notes per beat rather than the "feel" of triplets.

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Category: Terminology