Notes on the staff

The staff

Sheet music is how musicians write songs down so anyone can play them, even hundreds of years later. It looks like a secret code at first, but it’s really just a picture of the music: higher notes sit higher up, and time goes from left to right.

Notes are written on a staff: five lines with four spaces between them. Every line and every space is a different note. Move up one line or space and you go up one letter (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, then C again).

Clefs

The symbol at the start of the staff is the clef. It tells you which notes the lines mean.

The treble clef (the curly one) is for higher notes: melodies, a pianist’s right hand, guitar, flute and singers. Its curl wraps around the second line, which is G, so it’s also called the G clef. The lines from the bottom are E, G, B, D, F (“Every Good Burger Deserves Fries”) and the spaces spell F, A, C, E (FACE).

The bass clef (the one like a backwards C with two dots) is for lower notes: bass, a pianist’s left hand, cello. Its dots sit around the fourth line, which is F. Its lines are G, B, D, F, A (“Good Burgers Don’t Fall Apart”) and its spaces are A, C, E, G (“All Cows Eat Grass”).

Pick a clef and press some keys to see where the notes land.

Ledger lines, sharps and flats

Notes too high or low for the staff get little extra lines of their own, called ledger lines. Middle C sits on one ledger line just below the treble staff (and just above the bass staff).

A sharp (♯) before a note means play the key just to its right, usually a black key. A flat (♭) means the key just to its left. A natural (♮) cancels a sharp or flat.

Now test yourself. Name each note as it appears. Don’t worry about speed: everyone counts lines at first, and it gets faster quickly.

Quick quiz