To be able to decide where a measure ends and the next one begins, you'll need to understand what time signature is. The time signature is those two numbers you'll find at the beginning of each line in sheet music. These numbers will tell you how many notes will go into each musical bar. The top number tells you how many beats there are in the measure. And the bottom number tells you what note gets the beat.
For example, if the time signature is 3/4, there will be 3 quarter notes in each bar (or mathematically equivalent notes - see the note lengths and rests page to see what I mean by mathematically equivalent notes).
Most contemporary music is 4/4 or 3/4 time but you can also find songs in 3/8 and 2/4 time.
If you get the task to decide where bar lines go in a piece of music, first check the time signature. Then simply start counting the notes and put a bar line where you need to.
For example, in 3/4 time, I would need a bar line after each three quarter notes (or equivalent). Then I'd start counting over again and put the second bar line after the second three quarter notes (or equivalent) and so on.
Be careful, however, because sometimes the time signature changes somewhere during the piece of music. If it does, you'll need to count the notes according to the new time signature until the end of the music or until there is a new time signature again.
At the end of each piece of music, you'll find a double bar line. It means that you've reached the end of the song or piece of music.
More Music Theory
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