How to Read & Write Sheet Music

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 order to communicate effectively with other musicians. Reading and writing music well takes a time and practice, but with a little patience and an understanding of basic musical notation, you can learn how to speak the language of music as fluently as you speak your spoken language.

Things You'll Need

• Basic music notation book
• Simple sheet music
• Dummies Guide to Music Theory (recommended)

Instructions

1. 

   Get familiar with the music staff. The staff is five lines and four spaces. The lines are E, G, B, D, F and the spaces are F, A, C, E. The notes continue to repeat in forward order as you go above the staff and backward as you go below. A good way to memorize the notes is by thinking of the word "face" for the spaces and "Every Good Boy Does Fine" for the lines.

2. 

   Learn the grand staff. This includes the bass clef on the bottom and the treble clef on top. The grand staff is the staff piano players use. The bass notes, or notes on the left hand, are notated on the bottom staff and the treble notes (right hand, higher notes) are notated on the top staff. Most instruments use only one staff, treble or bass, depending upon the range of the instrument, but keyboards can play in both ranges. The clef is always located at the beginning of the staff.

3. 

   Understand time in written music. Time is indicated at the beginning of the staff by showing two numbers one over the other. 4/4 time, for instance, means four beats to a measure. A measure of music is divided by bars on the music staff and the notes in between those bars need to equal the number of beats indicated by the time signature at the beginning of the music staff.

4. 

   Learn note and rest values. How long notes are played and how long you rest (or don't play your instrument) in musical notation is determined by the shape and coloring of notes and rests. A whole note, which means a note held out for the full bar, is indicated by a circle with no coloring. The circle is located on the line or space of the note it represents. Every note value has an equal rest value.

5. Understand basic music symbols for dynamics and accents. These symbols are placed above music notes and tell you when to play louder or softer. There are many musical symbols. A beginner's musical notation book is something you should have if you plan to read and write music and want to understand the full spectrum of reading and writing music.

Tips & Warnings

• A good book to start with is the Dummies Guide to Music Theory. This book will give you everything you need to understand how to read and write music like a pro.

Resources

• Introduction to Reading and Writing Music
• Dummies Guide to Music Theory