The Basics: The Staff
Music is written on a grid of five lines known as a stave.
Fig 1:
Music written for guitar is written on the treble clef, also known as the G clef
Fig 2:
These five lines and the spaces between them house the notes we use in music
Fig 3:
The notes on the lines (from the bottom) : E – G – B – D – F can be made into a line like this: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit. You could make up anything you’d like, just as long as you can remember it. There is no wrong way, just as long as it uses the letters and it means something to you, then it’s all good. The notes in the spaces spell the word FACE. Easy enough ?
The notes lower than the guitar in pitch are written on the bass clef, also known as the F clef
Fig 4:
Here are the notes as they are written on the bass clef
Fig 5:
When notes go higher in pitch, we usually write them above as well as below the stave and we call them ledger lines. Figures 6 and 7 show the treble and bass clef ledger lines:
Fig 6:
Fig 7:
And now we have the final staff in full view… and rightly called the Grand Staff with all the notes present
Fig 8:
