Stop 7 of 7
Reading the staff
Treble clef, first-position notes and written rhythm.
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Stop 7 of 7
Treble clef, first-position notes and written rhythm.
So far you've been reading tab: it tells you where to put your fingers. Standard notation tells you what sounds and for how long, and it's the common language of every instrument: with it you can read a tune written for violin, a jazz fake book or the part a pianist hands you. You won't become a sight-reader in one stop, but you will understand the system, read the first-position notes and play a melody written only on the staff.
Listen and look at this phrase written both ways at once:
The tab says "open 3rd string, 3rd string fret 2…". The staff says "G, A, B, C, D, E" and also shows, with the shape of each note, how long it lasts: the last one is a dotted half note followed by a rest. Each system has its strengths, and together they're unbeatable.
| Tab | Staff | |
|---|---|---|
| Where to play | Yes, exactly | No: you choose the string |
| Which note it is | You have to work it out | Yes, at a glance |
| Rhythm | Often not | Yes, exactly |
| Other instruments | Strings only | All of them |
The is five lines and four spaces. The higher a note is written, the higher it sounds; each line and each space is a natural note, in order: line, space, line, space…
To know which note each line is you need a . Guitar uses the : its spiral curls around the second line (counting from the bottom) and makes it G. From there, everything else follows the alphabet.
Here's a detail that confuses many people: if we wrote guitar notes at their real pitch, most would fall below the staff, covered in ledger lines. For convenience, guitar music is written an octave higher than it sounds. That's why you'll sometimes see a small 8 under the treble clef: it reminds you of the difference.
For example, the open 1st string sounds E4, but is written E5, in the fourth space. The open 6th string sounds E2 and is written E3. All notation on this journey uses this convention and the playback respects it: what you hear is the guitar's real pitch.
Now let's read in first position: your hand covers frets 1 to 3 (plus the open strings), one finger per fret. In this zone each natural note has just one place. Start with the three high strings, which fall inside the staff:
| String | Open | Fret 1 | Fret 2 | Fret 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E (4th space) | F (5th line) | — | G (above) |
| 2 | B (3rd line) | C (3rd space) | — | D (4th line) |
| 3 | G (2nd line) | — | A (2nd space) | — |
Then the three low strings. Here notes start appearing below the staff:
| String | Open | Fret 1 | Fret 2 | Fret 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | D (below the 1st line) | — | E (1st line) | F (1st space) |
| 5 | A (2nd ledger line) | — | B (below the 1st ledger) | C (1st ledger line) |
| 6 | E (below the 3rd ledger) | F (3rd ledger line) | — | G (below the 2nd ledger) |
When a note doesn't fit on the staff, small are drawn just for it. They work exactly like the staff lines: line, space, line… The first ledger line below is written C4: middle C. On the guitar, that written C is string 5, fret 3.
Count the lines: the guitar's lowest E hangs below three ledger lines. They're hard to read at first; a trick is to memorise three anchors: C on the 1st ledger line, A on the 2nd and F on the 3rd. Everything else sits between them.
Low instruments (bass guitar, cello, the piano's left hand) use the bass clef, whose two dots surround the fourth line and make it F3. With it, the guitar's low E would almost fit on the staff. The guitar, instead, chose the treble clef written an octave higher: that way most of its range falls on the staff and reading is comfortable. The bass guitar does the same with the bass clef: it sounds an octave below what's written.
On the staff, a note's position shows its pitch and its shape shows its duration. They're the same note values you already know, now placed at the right height. Listen and count out loud with the numbers underneath:
Notice three details of the writing:
This original tune is in C major and uses only first-position notes. This time there's no tab: find each note using the tables in the previous scene. Listen first, with the names underneath as a help:
And now the same tune without names. Read it yourself:
Goal: Play both string phrases (high and low) reading only the staff, without looking at the tab, at 60 BPM.
Goal: Play the eight-bar tune reading the staff without names, without stopping, at 70 BPM over the backing.
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