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Bass clef notes

The bass clef notes are the low ones, mostly played by your left hand. Here is how to read bass clef, line by line and space by space.

A large bass clef on a five-line staff, with nine notes climbing from G on the bottom line to A on the top line, each named underneath: G A B C D E F G A. The notes on the lines are lit.GABCDEFGA

What the bass clef tells you

The bass clef is also called the F clef. Its two dots sit either side of the second line from the top, and that line is F3, the F just below middle C.

In piano music the bass staff sits under the treble staff, the two joined by a brace into the grand staff. The left hand usually plays the notes on the bass staff.

A grand staff: a treble staff above a bass staff, joined by a brace. The treble clef curls round the G4 line; the bass clef’s two dots sit either side of the F3 line. Middle C, C4, sits on a short extra line just below the treble staff, or just above the bass staff: the same key, written two ways.G4: the treble clef curls round this lineF3: the bass clef’s two dots sit either side of itMiddle CMiddle C
The grand staff. Each clef names one line, and middle C sits on a short extra line between the staves, written from either side.

The lines: G, B, D, F, A

From the bottom up, the five lines of the bass staff are G, B, D, F and A. Textbooks offer sentences to remember them by, such as Good Burritos Don’t Fall Apart or Good Bikes Don’t Fall Apart; any sentence you like will do. The bottom line is G2 and the top line is A3.

A bass staff with a note on the five lines, bottom to top: G2, B2, D3, F3, A3. Remember them as Good Burritos Don’t Fall Apart.GGoodBBurritosDDon’tFFallAApart
The bass staff’s lines, bottom to top: G, B, D, F, A. Good Burritos Don’t Fall Apart.

The spaces: A, C, E, G

The four spaces, from the bottom up, are A, C, E and G: All Cows Eat Grass.

A bass staff with a note in the four spaces, bottom to top: A2, C3, E3, G3. Remember them as All Cows Eat Grass.AAllCCowsEEatGGrass
The bass staff’s spaces, bottom to top: A, C, E, G. All Cows Eat Grass.

A shortcut if you already know the treble clef: each line or space in the bass clef is named two letters later in the alphabet than the same line or space in the treble clef. The bottom line is E in treble and G in bass; the bottom space is F in treble and A in bass.

Middle C and the low notes

Notes beyond the staff borrow short extra lines called ledger lines. Middle C sits on the first ledger line above the bass staff: the same key as the first ledger line below the treble staff. Below the bass staff, E2 sits on the first ledger line and C2 on the second.

The bass staff above two octaves of piano keys, each note drawn right above its own key: C2, D2, E2, F2, G2, A2, B2, C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, A3, B3, C4. Middle C, C4, is lit.C2D2E2F2G2A2B2C3D3E3F3G3A3B3C4
Every white key from C2 up to middle C (C4), on the bass staff. Each note sits right above its key; the lowest and highest borrow short extra lines.

Every note in the chart sits right above its key. Print the free piano keyboard chart to keep both clefs by your piano.

Your left hand’s home on the staff

A good first place for the left hand is C3 to G3: little finger on C3, thumb on G3. On the bass staff C3 is the second space and G3 the top space, and the notes between climb line, space, line.

The same 5 notes, C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, written two ways. Left, standard notation on a bass staff. Right, keyboard staff, where each note sits beside its own key.Standard notationKeyboard staffCDEFG
C3 up to G3, the left hand’s five-finger C position, in both notations. In keyboard staff the gaps and lines match the keys under your hand.

In keyboard staff, the notation on this site, the same notes sit beside the keys they stand for, so there is no clef to decode. The How to read page lets you press a key and see where its note sits.

Read the left hand of a real piece

  1. Open Mary Had a Little Lamb (Easy) and press Play. Stems down are the left hand.
  2. Set Hands in Options to Left, so the page plays and shows just the left hand.
  3. Name each left-hand note as it lights, then play along slowly.
  4. Turn on the Standard switch to see the same left hand on the bass staff.
The first 4 bars of Mary Had a Little Lamb (Easy) in keyboard staffC3441234EDCDEEEDDDEGGCCGC
Open the full pieceThe first four bars of Mary Had a Little Lamb. The notes with stems down are the left hand.

Pair this with the treble clef notes and you can read both hands. How to read piano notes puts it all together.

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