Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

6: Going Over the Clef

Treble Clef

This is the most common clef. Remember up above when I said each

clef has something about it which tells the letter name of a line? Well,

with treble clef, it’s the inner loop which circles the second line and

gives it a name.

What name, you ask? All in good time. No need to rush. You’ll find

out soon.

What letter does the treble clef look like? Take a guess now and see if

you’re right. You’ll find out all these niggling details in the next

chapter.

Example 6.3 The treble clef. Notice how the inner loop circles the second line.

Treble clef is used for instruments with a high pitch. Some of them are:

piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, guitar, violin, French horn, saxophone,

trumpet, and piano.

Bass Clef

The second most common clef. The bass clef uses both the head (that

bulbous part) and those two dots to indicate which line it names.

The bass clef was also once a letter. Which one do you think it was?

We’ll go over the details in Chapter 9. The only thing to remember at

the moment is that both the head of the bass clef and the dots indicate

the fourth line.

2nd line