Music Basics

Most musicians can read music by sight, but transposing is a skill possessed by far fewer instrumentalists. Learning to transpose by sight takes a lot of practice, but transposing bass to treble...

Reading music can be as easy as ABC, as long as you know a few tricks. A piece of piano music has two staffs, the bass and the treble, indicating the right and left hand parts of the music. Each...

The C clef, which is familiar to most musicians, can be placed in 2 different positions on the staff. In the past, it could be placed in many different positions on the staff, but all except 2...

The percussion section of the marching band is one of the most important sections of the band. The drummers keep the tempo, and the tempo is what keeps all of the marchers together. At first...

Music sheets, referred to most often as sheet music, are created by writing musical notes and symbols onto blank sheets called staff paper. Sheet music helps musicians communicate with one...

The treble clef is a musical symbol that dictates the notes corresponding with each line on the musical staff. The form of the treble clef reveals essential information about the music it follows...

The treble clef, which is sometimes referred to as the G clef, is the upper section of the staff in a piece of music. The notes of the treble clef are higher in pitch than the notes of the bass...

Piano sheet music is written on what is called the grand staff. While most instruments use only one clef, either treble or bass, depending upon the range of the instrument, the piano includes...

The treble clef is the general clef used for upper-register notes in most printed music. However, some music is written using the alto clef. Whereas the first staff line in the treble clef is E,...

Music, as an art form and medium, is common to every human culture and society. According to its notes, chords, tempos and lyrics, it is capable of deeply affecting a person's mood and emotions....

Music is enjoyed by everyone and some people still can't read music. There are just a few basic pieces of information to get you started. Let's start with the basic music staff that notes lie...

If you needed to produce a lot of musical notation, and had plenty of time to prepare it, you would probably already have software programs like Finale™ or Sibelius™. But since you are looking...

If you needed to produce a lot of musical notation, and had plenty of time to prepare it, you would probably already have software programs like Finale™ or Sibelius™. But since you are looking...

If you needed to produce a lot of musical notation, and had plenty of time to prepare it, you would probably already have software programs like Finale™ or Sibelius™. But since you are looking...

Writing tenor drum music is very similar to writing multiple bass drum music. The notes are written on a traditional five-line staff and are placed on the lines or spaces of the staff according to...

Most everybody understands music in its finished form. Before music gets to that point, however, it starts with a system called music notation. This is the language musicians use to write down...

While many drummers play by ear and never even consider written music for drums, there is another segment of drummers who read and write drum music right along with musicians who play other...

Sheet music contains the written patterns of sound contained in music. Each symbol on the page represents either the duration of a sound or how the sound should be played. Many instruments have...

No matter which style of music you are playing, you will use scales to express your ideas. It is a great asset to know a little of the science behind the art of music. Let's take a look at the...

A note is a symbol used to write down music, just as letters are used to write down words. The music is written on a staff of five lines, each note on the staff representing a tone. The type of...

The piano is one of the most versatile musical instruments, essential to many styles of music. While mastery of the piano requires many years of study and practice, a beginner can learn the basics...

Musical notation is the language through which musicians communicate with one another. Comprised of notes and rests written on a musical staff, musical notation tells musicians the name of the...

A fake book is a music book that typically contains 500 songs, or more. The songs are arranged to include only lyrics and chord progressions, and sometimes a simple melody line. Fake books are...

Music notation is a system of symbols that represent specific types of sounds. A sheet of music is similar to a blueprint of a house in that it provides the musician a basic set of instructions...

Tablature (or TAB) is a form of musical notation used primarily for musicians who play stringed instruments, most often the bass or guitar. Most other musicians play from traditional sheet music,...

Musical notation is the language of musicians. Unlike other forms of language, it is universal. A musician in any part of the world can read and understand musical notations written by a musician...

Staring at a page of blank sheet music, wondering where to start? Never fear---these easy steps will get you started in the world of musical notation, whether you can already play or sing music by...

A musical score is the written notation for a piece of music. It gives the key the piece is in, how fast it goes, what instruments it is written for, the notes of the piece and so on. This article...

So you wanna learn to play guitar but you're horrified of sheet music? You're not alone. But luckily there's an easier way to learn your favorite guitar songs. In this article on how to read...

Music is a universal language in more ways than one. Understanding and reading piano music fluently is an initial step to understanding music notes of all types. The instrumentation, meaning how...

A violin is one of four instruments making up a primary string orchestra: viola, cello, and bass are the other three. The violin is the highest pitched of all these instruments, meaning it hits...

There is a system of musical notation in place for drums based on the standard system of musical notation for other instruments. The system of musical notation for the drums has been in place...

Music is a language all its own. The modern system for musical notation known today was developed around the 16th century by classical musicians. The system features a musical staff, musical note...

One of the key elements to playing songs or writing songs is the ability to read and write musical notation. Music is a language of its own. Musicians need to be able to speak this language in...

Reading music is one of the most important skills to be mastered when learning to play the saxophone. If you have no experience with music, you will need to start with the basics of note reading....

Learning how to read music is a skill that can be acquired at almost any age. While advanced music can be quite complex, it is built upon a foundation of simple principles. Knowing the basics of...

Reading music is of one of the most basic skills needed for playing new music on the piano. Playing by ear is a valuable skill, but being able to read music is essential for playing new music...

Learning the names of music notes is easy. The challenge of reading music is to learn how to read notes quickly and accurately, and later, to learn how to read by intervals (steps), so that you...

You can learn to read music like a pro. In this article, we will learn about the musical alphabet, the staff, the two most common clefs (Treble Clef and Bass Clef), and how to learn to read notes...

This article covers musical notation with the corresponding letter it is. In music, the notes are known by where they are on the staff and by a letter name. This is to simplify transition...

Many people know how to read music in treble clef (G clef) and bass clef (F clef). Yet many people are unfamiliar with Viola Clef (or C Clef). Viola (pronounced Vee-ola) is the middle instrument...

The first two things a music student must learn is what notes to play and how long to play each note. The musical staff (or stave) tells the student what notes to play by placing each note...

The staff is an important part of sheet music, get expert tips and advice on drumming and beats in this free video.

If you are picking up the bow to play the violin, then you also know there are some essential tools to pick up along the way. One that every violinist should learn is how to read music. By...

Guitar frets determine the pitch a string will produce when you pluck it. A plucked string will produce a different pitch depending on which fret you push it onto. As you move up the fretboard,...

Reading bar lines or sheet music is like learning to read. Each note is represented on the lines called a staff. For each note, there is a representation of that note on the staff. All you have to...

The clef is the first symbol that appears on the musical staff, the set of five lines on which musical notes and symbols are written. The clef tells you which notes are indicated by each line and...

Many types of guitar music such as blues and rock is written in guitar tablature, a form of musical notation specifically designed for the guitar. Classical guitarists, on the other hand, must be...

The lines and spaces of a music staff are like a graph for spelling out the language of music. Refer to a sheet of music as a score because you will read it like a chart rather than a book. The...

The lines and spaces on a music staff are the same distance apart, but the notes they represent are not. With the help of a piano keyboard, you can easily understand whole tones and semitones and...