Question

if the first beat in the measure is a rest, and the second beat is a rest, would you would start playing off beat?

Answer 1

I meant if the second beat is a note. :)

Answer 2

Not necessarily. It depends on the time signature and what you mean by off beat. You probably mean upbeat. In a standard 4 4 time signature, it's just simply starting on the second beat. If you had an eighth rest then you could consider the next beat the upbeat.

Answer 3

if the first note is a rest and the second is a note then you would rest for that amount of time . like if it was a quarter rest then its one beat same with eight and sixteenth rest

Answer 4

for example