Note Block

Overview

A note block plays a single note when it is punched or given a redstone pulse, and everything interesting about it comes from two properties. First, right-clicking it steps the pitch up through 25 semitones, two full octaves, so a row of note blocks tuned by hand becomes a playable instrument. Second, the sound it makes depends entirely on the block directly underneath it: wood gives bass, sand gives snare, glass gives sticks, stone gives bass drum, gold gives bells, clay gives flute, packed ice gives chime, wool gives guitar, bone block gives xylophone, iron gives iron xylophone, soul sand gives cow bell, pumpkin gives didgeridoo, emerald block gives bit, hay gives banjo and glowstone gives pling. That gives sixteen instruments from one block, which is why every redstone music build in the game is a wall of note blocks over a carefully chosen floor. A note block needs one free block of air above it to sound at all. Placing a mob head on top makes it play that mob's sound instead of a note, which was added purely for fun and is used constantly in adventure maps.

Building playable instruments and redstone music, signalling in a base with distinct tones, and — with a mob head on top — playing mob sounds for adventure maps and jokes.

Note Block counts as a redstone block in Minecraft 1.21.4. Note Block has a crafting recipe, so it is renewable as long as you can source its ingredients. At a hardness of 0.8 it takes a moment to break but never slows a build down.

Any tool works, and so do bare hands. Mining it returns the block itself, so it is safe to relocate. A blast resistance of 0.8 means a single creeper will clear it away.

It stacks to 64. You make it with Oak Planks and Redstone Dust. No recipe takes it as an ingredient.

How to get it

Craft it from 8 wooden planks and 1 redstone dust. The recipe is cheap enough that a full 25-note instrument costs about 4 logs and a handful of redstone.

Tips

• The block underneath sets the instrument: 16 different materials give 16 different sounds from the same note block.
• Right-click steps through 25 pitches, so tune by ear and count clicks rather than guessing.
• It needs 1 block of air directly above it or it will not make any sound at all.
• An allay delivers items to a note block within 8 blocks of it, which is how automatic sorting with allays is built.

How long it takes to break

Note Block sits at hardness 0.8: 1.2 seconds per block with your fists, 0.15 with the correct netherite tool.

You are looking at 0.2 seconds on iron and 0.15 on diamond — the diamond step is where the time actually falls.

No particular tool tier is required: any tool, or none at all, still yields the drop, so the table below is about speed rather than about whether you get anything.

The Efficiency formula is level² + 1 added to tool speed — at V that is about 3 times the unenchanted rate.

Properties

With 0.8 blast resistance Note Block goes down to any nearby explosion. It is fully opaque and produces no light. One inventory slot holds 64, the normal full stack. An axe is the fastest choice here. A tool of the wrong class is no better than your fist — the speed bonus is tied to the block's own tool tag. As furnace fuel it burns for 15 seconds — one and a half smelting operations.

Crafting recipe

Crafting Table

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Note Block

Any plank — Oak Planks, Spruce Planks, Birch Planks, Jungle Planks, Acacia Planks, Dark Oak Planks, Pale Oak Planks, Crimson Planks, Warped Planks, Mangrove Planks, Bamboo Planks, Cherry Planks

Drops

Mined with any, Note Block drops itself.

Note Block

Guides and tools that cover this

• GuidesFive Useful Redstone Builds for a Survival World→
• GuidesRedstone Basics: Signal Strength, Repeaters and Comparators→
• GuidesHow the Minecraft Crafting System Works→
• GuidesThe First Ten Things to Build in a New Minecraft World→

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

Redstone DustOak PlanksMoving PistonOak ButtonMangrove Pressure PlateOak Pressure PlateMangrove ButtonObserver