Anyone explain music notation?

Question

What does it mean when 2 notes are connected? As in lines holding them together? I'm getting into writing it.

Answer 1

A vertical line holding them together means they are all played at the same time.  You are not qualified to write music.  Take a class in music theory, if you can get in one.  You can learn some by taking a few piano lessons even if you don't intend to be a piano player.

Answer 2

It depends what type of line you're talking about. A beam is a straight line joining up quavers/8th notes or shorter. There are some complex rules governing when a note should be flagged instead of beamed - you don't really need to know these other than "group in multiples of 2, starting on a beat", although like a lot of music theory this is only a basic rule, there are many exceptions. 

A slur is a curved line joining up *different* notes (or two notes that are the same with other notes in between), which means "play these notes smoothly". 

A tie is a curved line joining up notes that are the same pitch which joins them into one longer note - so a minim/half note and a crotchet/quarter note tied together are worth 3 beats. Ties are often used to make notes go across bar lines, but they can also be used within bars where a note goes across the strong beat in order to make it clearer.

There are also other types of lines which might join notes, but these are the main three.