Note Block

A note block is a block that emits sounds when attacked, used or powered with redstone. The sound produced can be altered in various ways by using it or putting certain blocks directly above or below it. A note block’s sound played repeatedly can be used to direct allays to stay nearby and drop collected items near it.

Obtaining

Natural generation

Note blocks generate in ancient cities.

Breaking

Note blocks are most quickly broken with an axe.

1. ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Crafting

Usage

Playing music

Notes

A note block being triggered and playing a note.

Note blocks play a musical note when hit (pressing the attack button) or powered by redstone. A note block must have air in the space directly above it to play a sound. Notes can be heard up to 48 blocks away. The volume of a note block decreases as the player gets further away from it. The sound of note blocks (as well as jukeboxes) can be independently controlled by the Jukebox/Note Blocks slider in the audio settings.

Note blocks play when on or next to a powered block. Each time a note block plays a note, a note particle may fly out of the top (if pressed too fast, notes may not appear), with the color depending on the pitch (but not the instrument).

There are 16 different instruments and 25 different pitches per instrument. Pressing the use button on the block increases the note pitch up a semitone, with a total of two full octaves and a semitone (25 semitones in total) being available for each instrument. The standard range (for harp and pling instruments) of notes span from F♯3 to F♯5. After reaching the highest note, pressing use again resets the pitch back to F♯3, as does breaking the block and picking it back up.

The string bass and didgeridoo are two octaves (24 semitones) lower than the standard range, the guitar is one octave (12 semitones) lower than the standard range, the flute is one octave above the standard range, and the bells, chimes, and xylophone are 2 octaves above the standard range. This gives the player six octaves (72 semitones) of effective range to combine instruments for greater pitch coverage.

The exact pitch to use-count assignment is shown below,[1][2] along with the note’s color, which is rendered with shading using the particle’s texture.

Alternatively, there is a graphical version available:

Players can roughly check the tuning of a block by looking at the note icon.

In Java Edition, the tuning can also be checked by looking at the right side of the debug screen (accessed by pressing F3). It is denoted as “note:” followed by a number from 0 to 24.

Instruments

The instrument played depends on the material of the block underneath the note block. Note that these are groups of blocks defined by the code, not just the individual block.

Mob heads

When a mob head is placed on top of a note block, the sound made by the note block will instead be that of the corresponding mob’s ambient sound, with the exception of the creeper head, which instead causes the note block to play the primed sound.[upcoming: JE 1.20]

Powering note blocks

A pair of note blocks wired to a clock circuit to play alternately.

Note blocks can be powered in a variety of different ways following normal redstone principles; however, some ways of powering note blocks are more convenient than others or produce unexpected results.

• When a note block is powered by a button on its side, it does play a note, but is often difficult to hear because the sound of the button can overlap the note block.
• Because note blocks need space above them, note blocks powered by pressure plates or redstone directly above them do not make a sound.

Interaction with allays

If an allay hears a note block play within 16 blocks of its location, it tries to path find to the note block and then spends 30 seconds around that particular note block, seeking items around it and returning them to it instead of its player. After 30 seconds, the allay returns to targeting its player. A vibration particle emanates from the note block and reaches the allay to indicate the allay has locked on to the note block. Because the allay and the note block interact via a vibration particle, placing wool between the note block and the allay can prevent this interaction.

Fuel

Note blocks can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per block.

Sounds

Data values

ID

Block states

Block data

In Bedrock Edition, a note block has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Achievements

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Birthday Song	Have an Allay drop a Cake at a Note Block	You’ve Got a Friend in Me	Give an allay a cake and then use a note block to make the allay drop the cake at a note block. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless if one or more of its child advancements have been completed.

History

Java Edition Beta
1.2
Note blocks have 5 instruments: Harp, Bass, Bass drum, Snare drum, Click. Pling is also added in the sound files, but is currently unused.
Java Edition
1.0.0	Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6	Note blocks are now broken faster using an axe.
1.2.4	release	Spruce planks, birch planks, and jungle planks can now be used to craft note blocks.
1.7.2	1.7.1	Acacia planks and dark oak planks can now be used to craft note blocks.
1.12	17w16a	Added sound events (but not the sounds themselves) for additional instruments (bell, chime, flute, guitar, xylophone) to note blocks.
17w17a	Added sounds for additional instruments to note blocks.
1.13	17w47a	Note blocks can now be pushed by pistons.
1.14	18w43a
19w09a	Added sounds to note blocks for additional instruments (iron xylophone, cow bell, didgeridoo, bit, banjo), and implemented the “Pling” instrument into the game.
1.16	20w06a	Crimson planks and warped planks can now be used to craft note blocks.
1.19	22w11a	Mangrove planks can now be used to craft note blocks.
22w13a	Note blocks now generate as part of ancient cities.
Note blocks can now only be silenced with wool or wool carpets on top.
22w15a	The change to note block silencing mentioned above for 22w13a has now been reverted.
1.20 (Experimental)	22w42a	Heads can now be placed on note blocks to play the respective mob sound.
23w03a	Heads can now be placed on note blocks without sneaking.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.13.0	build 1
v0.15.0	build 1	Note blocks can now be moved by pistons.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3
1.13.0	beta 1.13.0.9	Added all new note block sounds from Java Edition 1.12 and 1.14.
Wild Update (experimental)	beta 1.18.30.22	A note block played near an allay becomes its favorite note block for 30 seconds.
Placing a block on top of a note block no longer mutes it, with the exception of wool blocks.
1.19.0	beta 1.19.0.26	The previous change has been reverted.
Next Major Update (Experimental)	beta 1.19.60.20	Heads can now be placed on note blocks to play the respective mob sound.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1
TU53	CU43	1.49	Patch 23	1.0.3	Added new note block sounds.
1.90
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to “Note block” or “Noteblock” are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• Because a note block is a wooden type block, a note block directly on top of another one produces a string bass sound when powered.
• In Java Edition, note blocks have the second highest number of possible block state combinations, at 800[until 1.20] or 1150[upcoming: 1.20], beating fire’s 512 and behind redstone dust’s 1296.
• In Creative mode, the only way to hit a note block to play it without breaking it or changing its pitch is by doing so while holding a sword.

Gallery

See also

• Tutorials/Redstone music
• Tutorials/Redstone music/Doorbell
• Jukebox
• Minecraft Note Block Studio – A music editor for Minecraft.

References

External links

• Block of the Week: Note Block – Minecraft.net on June 1, 2018
• Search YouTube for the many songs played on note blocks