Understanding the Bass Clef

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I am Eric Williams and I am here to tell you about reading music. Okay we've covered the treble clef and now let's cover the bass cleft. Students say why are there 2 different clefs. Why do I learn these note and then when I finally almost get this one right and now I've got to learn a whole other series of notes. Well the answer is the treble clef goes with instruments that are more high pitched. The bass clef usually goes with instruments that are more low pitched. Up in the treble clef, you have your trumpets and your flutes and most of the time guitar. In the bass clef, you have your instruments like bass guitar, tuba, the lower pitched string bass. If you are singing in choir, you might want to learn how to read music. A lot of times the sopranos and the alto, the female voices are in the treble clef and the males voices bass and baritone and sometimes even tenor end up in the bass clef. So it would be nice if they were congruent with each other and symmetric but music doesn't work out that way. So we need to learn a whole new series or lines and spaces and memorize them to make the bass clef work. The base clef works with a little hook right here and goes all the way around and has 2 dots. The dots go above and below the f line and you might say why is this the f line? On the treble clef, that is the d line. Well remember everything you can about the treble clef but increase your brain power and remember the bass clef too because they are different. This is f on the bass clef and that same line, that same note on the treble clef is a d. Just deal with it. The bottom goes g, b, d, f, a, and you could use good boys do fine. Always the spaces go a, c, e, g and a lot of people use all cows eat grass. Okay if you want to learn it the other way you can go g, e, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, starting over again on a. So in my mind a lot of times the bass clef is a little bit easier because the musical alphabet starts right here with a and you go a, b, c, d, e, f, g and start over again on a. You know to me it is a little bit easier. Anyway we've got good boy do fine, all cows eat grass. Work on it, memorize it, love it and make it your own. But by all means don't forget the treble clef, you've got to memorize both. That's the challenge. "