Re: chord durations

[Tim McNamara]

On Aug 30, 2009, at 10:23 PM, Christian Henning wrote:

> Hi there, adding a dot to a chord duration prolongs it by 50%. "g4.",
> for instance, is 1.5 beats or three 8th notes. "g4.." is 1.75 beats, I
> believe. Which would translate into seven 16th notes. But what is
> "g4..."? Here, with 3 dots.

Two dots are rarely used and I have never seen three dots used.

> Also, how can I describe a duration that lasts for 2.25 beats?

For a 2.25 beat duration, do a half note and a tied 16th note:  g2~ g16

> I realize that I don't really ask lilypond related things but more
> general music theory questions. I'm hoping this community is still
> kind enough helping me out.

You appear to be trying to learn sheet music and LilyPond  
simultaneously.  It would go faster to learn the rules of Western  
sheet music first- the fundamentals are actually pretty easy and you  
can readily find most of the information online- and then LilyPond.

http://www.notationmachine.com/how_to_read_sheetmusic/readingmusic.htm

migbht be a good place to start.