

‘Middle C’, one of the first notes beginning music students learn, is located on a ledger line between the bass clef and treble clef staffs. Ledger lines are used to notate pitches below or above the regular lines and spaces of the staff. Some helpful mnemonics to jog your memory are “Good Boys Do Fine Always” or “Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always”. The note names on the lines of the bass clef staff are G-B-D-F-A. Some helpful mnemonics to remember this are “All Cows Eat Grass” or “All Cars Eat Gas”. The note names on the spaces of the bass clef staff are A-C-E-G. For beginning pianists, notes on the bass clef staff will be played with the left hand. The lower registers of the piano are notated in the bass clef. In other words, the F might have been on the third line instead of the fourth line! Today, the ‘F-Clef’ does not move around and is known interchangeably as the bass clef.Īs its name indicates, the bass clef is used by instruments with lower registers, like the cello, trombone or bassoon. The ‘F’ was located on whichever line passed between the two dots. In early music notation, hundreds of years ago, this clef sometimes moved around. The note located on this line of the bass clef staff is an ‘F’. The bass clef, pictured in the examples below, is also known as the ‘F-Clef’ because the fourth line of the staff passes between the two dots. Come up with your own and let us know in the comments! Some mnemonics to help you remember this are “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge”, or “Elvis’s Guitar Broke Down Friday”. The note names on the lines of the treble clef are E-G-B-D-F. The note names on the spaces of the treble clef spell out F-A-C-E. For beginning pianists, notes on the treble clef staff will be played with the right hand. The higher registers of the piano are notated in the treble clef as well. The treble clef is used by instruments that have higher registers, like the flute, violin and trumpet. This is because the curve in the clef encircles the second line of the staff, which is called a ‘G’ on the treble clef staff. The treble clef, pictured below, is also known as the ‘G-clef’. The two clefs that are primarily used are the treble clef and bass clef.

Music notes are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The spaces are numbered 1-4 starting with the bottom space (in between lines 1 and 2).Įach line and space of the staff correspond to a musical pitch, which is determined by the clef. The lines are numbered 1-5 starting from the bottom line. It is made up of five lines and four spaces, as seen below. The foundation of the written musical language is the staff.
MUSIC KEYS SHEET MUSIC HOW TO
Check out our article “ Learn How to Read Sheet Music: Rhythms” for information on music note values, time signatures, counting rhythm and more. This article will discuss how to read music notes. While reading notes for music is like learning a whole new language, it is actually much less complicated than you may think. Sheet music, the written form of music notes, may appear very complex to the untrained eye.
