The staff and the treble clef – free music theory course

To write down pitch we use the staff (or stave in British English): five horizontal lines and the four spaces between them. They are always counted from bottom to top: line 1 is the lowest.

The higher a note sits on the staff, the higher it sounds. A note can be placed on a line (the line runs through it) or in a space. Moving from a line to the space just above raises the pitch by one letter: C → D → E… Such neighbouring notes are called steps.

The treble clef

A staff on its own does not say which notes it holds: it needs a clef. The treble clef (𝄞), also called the G clef, curls around the second line and gives it its name: the note on line 2 is G (the G just above middle C). From that landmark, every other note follows.

On the piano the treble clef is used mostly for the right hand; it is also the clef of most high instruments (violin, flute, soprano voice, guitar…).

Notes on the lines

M:4/4
L:1/4
K:C
E4 | G4 | B4 | d4 | f4 |]
w: E G B D F

Notes in the spaces

M:4/4
L:1/4
K:C
F4 | A4 | c4 | e4 |]
w: F A C E

Mnemonics: lines E-G-B-D-F — "Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit"; spaces F-A-C-E — they spell "FACE". Don't lean on these phrases for too long, though: the real goal is to recognise each note at a glance, the way you read a word.

Reading by landmarks and by intervals

Good readers don't recite the staff: they know a few landmark notes (middle C below the staff, G on line 2, C in the third space, G above the staff) and read the others by distance: line → next space = next letter; line → next line = skip one letter.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C
C D E F | G2 G2 | A G F E | D2 C2 |]
w: C D E F G G A G F E D C

Common mistake: mixing up a note on a line with the note in the neighbouring space. Check whether the line goes through the middle of the note head (line note) or whether the note is squeezed between two lines (space note).

Stems: below the middle line the stem goes up, on the right of the note head; above it, the stem goes down, on the left. On the middle line it usually goes down. This does not change the sound, but it makes the score easier to read.