Learning to Read the Lines and Spaces of the Treble Clef and Bass Clef

Everyone has there own way of learning and while some techniques work for some people, they will not work for all. The same principle applies to learning to play a musical instrument and learning to read and interpret musical notation.

Learning to read the treble clef notes and the bass clef notes can be easy for most people if they find quickly enough a method that helps them learn the notes. For some people like myself, I found it easier to learn that the names of the notes alternate between a line note and a space note and that they go up in order making use of the first seven letters of the alphabet.

For a lot of people, this way of remembering the names  of the notes is not helpful. Many people find it easier if they use sayings made from the names of the notes. These are the ones I learned as a kid:

Treble clef lines  E, G, B, D, F

Becomes: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit

Treble clef spaces F, A, C, E

(This spells face, which makes it quite easy)

Bass clef lines G, B, D, F, A

Becomes: Gran Bought Don Four Apples

Bass clef spaces A, C, E, G

Becomes: All Cows Eat Grass

I’d hate to think how old these sayings are and while they work, there are other alternatives such as:

E, G, B, D, F

Every Good Body Does Fruit

Each Grand Baby Does Fine

Elephants Gather Beyond Dairy Farms

G, B, D, F, A

Great Big Dreams For Australia

Good Birds Don’t Fly Away

Grand Babies Don’t Fling Acorns

Giggling Babies Do Find Amusement

A, C, E, G

All Children Eat Grapes

After Cooking Extract Garbage

All Clowns Exit Gracefully

Some of the above sayings have been around for decades and some of these I have made up myself. Feel free to use what might work best for you. If you don’t like any of these then have a go at making up your own. It might take a little time but you will probably learn it quicker than using any of the ones I have listed for you.

I get that learning the names of the line notes and space notes for both treble and bass clef can be a daunting task. However, if you can find the right method for you, like maybe one of the above sayings then the task will hopefully become fairly easy and straightforward.