The Staff, Clefs, and Ledger lines

• The Staff is the foundation upon which noes are drawn.
  • The staff is made up of five lines and four spaces.
  • Every line or space on the staff represents a white key on the keyboard.
  • Clefs assign individual notes to certain lines or spaces.
  • Two clefs are normally used: the Treble and Bass clefs.
• The Treble clef is also called the G clef.
  • The staff line which the clef wraps around is known as G. Any note placed on this line becomes G.
  • The note on the space above G is A. (Remember, there is not an "H" note.)
  • The note on the line above A is B.
  • This process continues.
  • What happens when we run out of lines to place notes above or below the staff?
• A ledger line is a small line that extends the staff when we run out of room.
  • With the ledger line drawn, we can place the A above the staff.
• The Bass Clef is also called the F clef.
  • The staff line in between the two dots of the clef is F.
  • We can now fill the rest of the staff notes.
• The Grand Staff is the combination of both the Treble clef (on top) and the Bass clef (on the bottom).
  • The two clefs are joined by a ledger line in the middle, the note on this line is C.
  • This C is commonly called "middle C" since it corresponds to the middle staff line on the Grand Staff.

For an visual representation of this lesson, click here.