im teaching myself how to play the piano and i cant quite figure out some sfuff...how do you play a 1/8 note, among other stuff but this one is really getting me right now...any help will be appreciated...

Glad to hear that you`re teaching yourself...there are lots of people who would love to learn how to play but think that the only way to learn is to take expensive, time-consuming lessons. Stick with it!

OK, now for your question. The different types of notes (1/8 note, 1/4 note, etc.) all describe how long you should hold down a key or a chord. If you know how to play a quarter note, then eigth notes are easy: you hold them down for half the time you hold down a quarter note. Another way to think of it is this: you need to play two eigth notes in the time it takes to play one quarter note.

Perhaps a graphic will help:

(One measure)
| |
|+ + + + |<---these are quarter notes
|- - - - - - - - |<---these are eighth notes

I`m not sure if that was very helpful; perhaps others will have better explanations. Mostly, playing the different types of notes just takes practice (like everything musical).

I`ve been forced to reply again, because the message software messed up my beautiful graphic...

For those three drawings at the end of my first message, all three of them take the same amount of time, even though they look different sizes. It took me a while to space them right...but they were all scrunched together. O well.

Good luck