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How to read sheet music

Learning how to read sheet music means learning a handful of symbols. Here are the basics of how to read music for piano, one at a time, with standard notation and this site’s keyboard staff side by side.

The opening of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star written two ways: on the left in standard notation on a treble staff, on the right in keyboard staff beside an upright keyboard, where middle C sits just below the bold red line.

A line of music, piece by piece

Sheet music is read left to right and top to bottom, like a book. Each line opens with a clef, a key signature and a time signature. Then come the notes, divided into bars (also called measures) by bar lines, and the piece ends with a double bar line.

A short line of piano music with its parts labelled. From the left: the treble clef; a key signature of one sharp on the F line; the time signature 4 over 4; four quarter notes, G A B G; a bar line; a second bar of A, B and a half note G; and the final bar line, thin then thick, that ends the piece.♯44ClefKey signatureTime signatureNoteBar lineOne bar (measure)Final bar line
The parts of a line of music: clef, key signature and time signature at the start, then notes, divided into bars.

Step 1: the staff and the clefs

Notes sit on a staff of five lines and four spaces. The staff is old: its invention is traditionally credited to Guido d’Arezzo around the year 1000, who used three or four lines, and the five-line staff became standard by about 1200.

A clef names the lines. The treble clef curls round the line for G4, the G above middle C; the bass clef’s two dots sit either side of the line for F3, the F below middle C. Piano music uses both at once, on the grand staff: the right hand usually reads the treble staff and the left hand the bass.

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.

For every note on each staff, with charts, see treble clef notes and bass clef notes.

Step 2: note values, or how long

The shape of a note tells you how long to hold it. A whole note lasts as long as two half notes, four quarter notes or eight eighth notes. Rests are silences, and each note value has a rest of the same length. A dot after a note makes it half as long again.

Note values in a bar of four beats, each with a bar showing how long it lasts. A whole note lasts 4 beats and fills the bar. A half note lasts 2 beats, so 2 fill the bar. A quarter note lasts 1 beat, so 4 fill the bar. An eighth note lasts half a beat, so 8 fill the bar, joined in pairs by a beam.Beat1234Whole note4 beats, fills the barHalf note2 beats each, 2 in a barQuarter note1 beat each, 4 in a barEighth noteHalf a beat each, 8 in a bar
One whole note lasts as long as two halves, four quarters or eight eighths. The bars show how long each note lasts in a bar of 4 beats.

Step 3: the time signature, or how to count

The two numbers at the start are the time signature. The top number is how many beats are in each bar, and a 4 underneath means each beat is a quarter note. So 4/4 is four quarter-note beats in every bar, and 3/4 is three.

Two time signatures. Left, 4 over 4: four quarter-note beats in each bar, counted 1, 2, 3, 4. Right, 3 over 4: three quarter-note beats in each bar, counted 1, 2, 3.4412344 beats in a bar341233 beats in a bar
The top number of a time signature is the beats in each bar; the 4 below means each beat is a quarter note. Count along as you play.

Step 4: sharps, flats and the key signature

A sharp (♯) raises a note to the very next key and a flat (♭) lowers it. Sharps or flats written just after the clef, the key signature, apply to every note with that letter, in every octave. A sharp or flat written beside a single note, an accidental, lasts only until the next bar line.

This is where standard notation asks the most of your memory: a black key has no place of its own on the staff, so you have to keep the signs in your head. Keyboard staff gives each black key its own line instead.

The same 5 notes, D4, E4, F♯4, G4, A4, written two ways. Left, standard notation on a treble staff, where F♯4 needs a sharp sign. Right, keyboard staff, where each note sits beside its own key and F♯4 sits on its black key’s line.Standard notationKeyboard staff♯DEF♯GA
D, E, F♯, G, A. Standard notation needs a sharp sign to put F♯ on a black key; keyboard staff gives the black key its own line.

Step 5: the same music in keyboard staff

In keyboard staff, the notation on this site, every line is a black key. The bold red line is C♯4, the black key just above middle C, and a dotted grey line marks each place where two white keys sit side by side with no black key between them (E and F, B and C). A white-key note is an oval in a gap or beside a dotted line, so the page looks like the keyboard turned on its side. Both hands share the one staff: notes with stems up are for the right hand, stems down for the left.

Turning the keyboard a quarter turn so the lowest key is at the bottom. On the right, the same octave stands upright, and a line runs from each black key: the bold red line comes from C sharp 4, and dotted lines mark where E meets F and B meets C. Middle C sits just below the red line.CDEFGABCAs you see itturnC4C♯4
Keyboard staff is the keyboard turned on its side. Each line is a black key; the red one is C♯4, just above middle C.

Every piece on this site is drawn in keyboard staff, and the Standard switch on any piece page shows the same music in standard notation, so you can compare the two bar by bar.

Read your first piece

  1. Open Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Easy) and find the time signature at the start. Tap the beat and count each bar.
  2. Name the right hand’s first notes: C, C, G, G, A, A, G.
  3. Press Play and follow the highlighted notes from left to right.
  4. Play the right hand alone, slowly, then turn on the Standard switch and read it again on the treble staff.
The first 4 bars of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Easy) in keyboard staffC3441234CCGGAAGFFEEDDCCFCFCGC
Open the full pieceThe first four bars of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Press Play and read along from left to right.

When you are ready for more, the easiest level is full of short tunes, and the free piano keyboard chart names every key and note. New to the keyboard itself? Start with how to read piano notes.

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