Reading music · Treble clef
Treble clef notes
The treble clef is where your right hand usually reads: the tune. Here's every note on it, labelled. Tap any note to hear it and see the key it belongs to.
Tap any note to hear it. Try the buttons to light up the lines, the spaces, and the landmark notes.
The lines: E G B D F
From the bottom line up, the treble clef's lines are E, G, B, D, F. The classic way to remember them: Every Good Boy Does Fine.
The spaces: F A C E
The spaces, bottom to top, are F, A, C, E: FACE.
Landmark notes
Rhymes are a good start, but readers who get fast use landmarks. Learn these three until you see them instantly, then read every other note as a step or a skip from the nearest one:
- Middle C, on a ledger line just below the staff.
- Treble G, the second line up: the clef curls around it.
- Treble C, the C above middle C, in the third space.
Ledger lines
Notes below and above the staff are written on short extra lines, ledger lines. Middle C sits on one ledger line below the treble staff; A above the staff sits on one ledger line, and high C on two.
Practise: name that note
Name that note
A few minutes of this a day, and within a week or two you'll name treble clef notes without thinking.
Learning to read? Ivory listens to you play and tells you what's off: a note that's missing, a hand that lands late, a rhythm that's off. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
What are the notes of the treble clef lines?
From the bottom up: E, G, B, D, F (Every Good Boy Does Fine).
What are the notes of the treble clef spaces?
From the bottom up: F, A, C, E (FACE).
Where is middle C on the treble clef?
On one ledger line just below the treble staff.
Why is it called the treble clef or G clef?
Its curl wraps around the line for the G above middle C, so it's also called the G clef.