Purchase a metronome at a music store. Also purchase a basic book on reading musical notation to keep handy as you practice counting beats. You can find one at a music or book store. You can also find a reference chart online at no cost.
Write 4/4 at the beginning of a blank sheet of music paper. This is the notation for common time in music. It means there will be four quarter note beats per bar of music. You can create these beats with any combination of note values. Write a whole note. A whole note is an oval shape with a slight downward angle. Draw it over one of the five lines or four spaces on your blank music paper. A whole note in 4/4 time is worth four beats, which means it will take up a full measure, or four counts.
Write down several of these whole notes and separate each with a horizontal line running from the top line of your music staff paper to the bottom. This is a bar line, so called because it separates music into bars.
Tap your foot on the first beat of the whole note and wait to the count of four, which brings you to the next whole note. Tap your foot on the first beat of that whole note and count to four again. Continue to do this through all the whole notes you've written. The tap of your foot happens on the first beat of every whole note. If your foot tap was a instrument, the note would play on the tap and be held for a total of four beats.
Repeat the above exercise with half notes, which are held for two beats. A half note looks like a whole notes, except it has a short stem running from the oval note head up. There are two of these per bar of music instead of just one. This is because it's half the value of a whole note. Write several half notes on your music paper and set your metronome again, then tap your foot on the first beat of each half note and hold it for two counts, which will bring you two the next half note.
Using the same exercise you've used so far, tap your foot on each quarter note. Quarter notes are worth a quarter of a bar each, meaning one quarter note represents a beat. A quarter note is an oval colored black with a stem. There will be four to a bar. Keep the rhythm and switch two eighth notes. There are two of these per quarter note. On each quarter note, tap your foot twice in the space of one count. You're changing your foot tap to an eighth note rhythm. An eighth note is an oval colored black with a stem and a little tail at the top of the stem. There are eight eighth notes per bar of music.