Reading music
How to read music notes
Music is written on a stave of five lines. Each line and each space stands for one letter from A to G, and where a note sits on the stave tells you which key to play. The treble clef carries the higher notes, usually your right hand. The bass clef carries the lower notes, usually your left. Middle C sits between the two. Learn those two clefs and one landmark note, and you can work out every other note on the page.
Below, every diagram is playable and there is a trainer at the end that shows you a note and waits for you to play it. This page is free and asks nothing of you, and it works with a MIDI keyboard, your mouse or your computer keys.
The trainer
Practise reading notes right now
A note appears on the stave. Find it on the keyboard and play it. Most note-reading apps only ask you to name the note; this one makes you play it, which is the half that actually transfers to the piano.
Press start, then play the note you see.
Checking for MIDI…
Turn the note names off once you stop needing them. That is the moment you are genuinely reading rather than matching letters.
The basics
What is a stave?
A stave is the set of five horizontal lines that music is written on. Notes sit either on a line or in a space between two lines, and each position stands for a different pitch. Piano music uses two staves joined together, called a grand stave: the upper one for the right hand and the lower one for the left.
The grand stave. Treble clef above, bass clef below, and middle C on its own short line in between.
Where is middle C?
Middle C sits on a short line of its own, directly between the treble and bass staves. On the keyboard it is the C closest to the middle of the instrument, which you find by looking for any group of two black keys and taking the white key immediately to their left. Middle C is the landmark every other note is counted from.
If you are not yet sure where C is on the keyboard itself, do the five minute beginner walkthrough first. It takes about five minutes and ends with you playing a real tune.
Treble clef
How do you read the treble clef?
In the treble clef, the notes on the five lines are E, G, B, D and F from the bottom up. The notes in the four spaces are F, A, C and E from the bottom up, which spell the word FACE. The treble clef is also called the G clef because its curl wraps around the second line up, which is G.
The lines: E, G, B, D, F. The old mnemonic is Every Good Boy Deserves Football, but any sentence you invent yourself will stick better.
The spaces: F, A, C, E. They spell FACE, which is the one piece of luck in the whole system.
Bass clef
How do you read the bass clef?
In the bass clef, the notes on the five lines are G, B, D, F and A from the bottom up. The notes in the four spaces are A, C, E and G from the bottom up. The bass clef is also called the F clef because its two dots sit either side of the fourth line up, which is F.
The lines: G, B, D, F, A. Good Boys Deserve Football Always, if you want the matching mnemonic.
The spaces: A, C, E, G. All Cows Eat Grass is the usual one.
A warning worth having early: the bass clef is not the treble clef shifted down. The same position means a different letter in each clef, which is why learning them separately is faster than trying to convert between them.
Going higher and lower
What are ledger lines?
Ledger lines are short extra lines drawn above or below the stave for notes that are too high or too low to fit on it. They continue the same pattern of lines and spaces. Middle C is itself written on a ledger line, below the treble stave or above the bass stave.
Middle C in the middle, a note below the treble stave, and one high above it.
What do sharps and flats mean?
A sharp sign raises a note by one semitone, which usually means playing the black key immediately to the right. A flat sign lowers it by one semitone, usually the black key immediately to the left. A natural sign cancels either of them. When these signs appear at the start of a line they form the key signature and apply to every bar that follows.
The same black key can be written two ways. The key between C and D is C sharp or D flat depending on the piece. It sounds identical either way, so do not let the two names slow you down at this stage.
The other half
How do you read note lengths?
The shape of a note tells you how long to hold it. A hollow note with no stem lasts four beats, a hollow note with a stem lasts two, a filled note with a stem lasts one, and each flag or beam added to the stem halves the length again. A dot after a note makes it half as long again.
| Note | Also called | Beats in 4/4 | Looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semibreve | Whole note | 4 | Hollow head, no stem |
| Minim | Half note | 2 | Hollow head with a stem |
| Crotchet | Quarter note | 1 | Filled head with a stem |
| Quaver | Eighth note | Half | Filled head, stem, one flag |
| Semiquaver | Sixteenth note | Quarter | Filled head, stem, two flags |
| Dotted crotchet | Dotted quarter | One and a half | Filled head, stem, dot after it |
The number at the start of the music is the time signature. In 4/4, the most common one, there are four beats in every bar and a crotchet gets one beat. You can hear this in practice with the free metronome, or feel it inside a real piece in the practice room, which scores your timing separately from your notes.
Making it stick
How long does it take to learn to read music?
Most adults can name every note on the treble and bass staves within two to four weeks of short daily practice, around ten minutes a day. Reading fluently while playing takes longer, usually a few months, because it is a different skill from naming notes on their own. Little and often works far better than occasional long sessions.
Drill the note trainer
Ten minutes a day on the trainer above. Start with the treble clef and white keys, then add the bass clef, then turn the note names off.
Back to the trainer → 02 / READ THEMSwitch on Read mode
In the practice room, Read mode hides the falling blocks and leaves the written music. Only what you play then counts towards your reading score.
Open the practice room → 03 / UNDERSTAND THEMSee the shapes
The chord finder and scale explorer draw the shapes on a keyboard, which is what makes written music start to look like patterns rather than dots.
Open the tools →Questions
Common questions about reading music
Do I need to read music to play the piano?
No, and plenty of people play well without it. But reading is the difference between playing the pieces somebody has prepared for you and playing anything you can find. It also makes learning new pieces far faster, because you stop having to memorise every note by ear or by watching a video.
What are the notes on the treble clef lines and spaces?
The lines from the bottom up are E, G, B, D and F. The spaces from the bottom up are F, A, C and E, which spell FACE. The treble clef curl wraps around the second line, which is G, and that is why it is also called the G clef.
What are the notes on the bass clef lines and spaces?
The lines from the bottom up are G, B, D, F and A. The spaces from the bottom up are A, C, E and G. The two dots of the bass clef sit either side of the fourth line, which is F, and that is why it is also called the F clef.
Why is middle C written differently in each clef?
It is the same key on the piano either way. Middle C sits just below the treble stave and just above the bass stave, so it gets a short ledger line of its own in both. Seeing it written both ways is the quickest route to understanding how the two staves join up.
What is the fastest way to learn note names?
Short daily drilling on a small range, rather than long occasional sessions on everything. Start with the treble clef, white keys only, and one octave either side of middle C. Add the bass clef once the treble feels automatic, then widen the range, then turn the note name labels off.
Is this free?
Yes. This page and its trainer are free and ask nothing of you, and nothing here is stored anywhere but your own browser. The practice room asks for an email after three sessions, and that is free too.
Reading sticks faster when you press the key rather than name it. Lesson 5 of the course puts a note on a real staff and asks you to play it, ten rounds at a time, with a quiz at the end. Start from the beginning of the course if the earlier ground is shaky.