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Music Theory Fundementals: Basic Symbols & Notations [MT-2]

I will be covering only the fundamentals of music theory at the Guitar Therapy classes. Nowadays we are blessed as guitar players that we have the guitar tablature, of which I will cover thoroughly during other GT sessions. Guitar tablature allows an advantage for guitar players over other musicians. We are giving the guitar player the ability to read music no matter how complex a piece and play it with ease. But however today, we look at basic classical musical notation symbols and what they mean.

Music is made up of a variety of symbols, the most basic of which are the staff, the clefs, and the notes. All music contains these fundamental components, and to learn how to read music, you must first familiarize yourself with these basics.


The staff consists of five lines and four spaces. Each of those lines and each of those spaces represents a different letter, which in turn represents a note. Those lines and spaces represent notes named A-G, and the note sequence moves alphabetically up the staff.

Treble Clef


There are two main clefs with which to familiarize yourself; the first is a treble clef. The treble clef has the ornamental letter G on the far left side. The G's inner swoop encircles the "G" line on the staff. The treble clef notates the higher registers of music, so if your instrument has a higher pitch, such as a flute, violin or saxophone, your sheet music will be on the treble clef. More top notes on a keyboard also are notated on the treble clef.



We use common mnemonics to remember the note names for the lines and spaces of the treble clef. For lines, we remember EGBDF by the word cue, "Every Good Boy Does Fine." Similarly, for the spaces, FACE is just like the word "face." As you recall, we used the mnemonic for remembering the order of guitar's standard tuning [EADGBE] with "Every Able Dog...".

Bass Clef

The line between the two bass clef dots is the "F" line on the bass clef staff, and it's also referred to as the F clef. The bass clef notates the lower registers of music, so if your instrument has a lower pitch, such as a bassoon, tuba, or cello, your sheet music is written in the bass clef. Lower notes on your keyboard also are notated in the bass clef.


A common mnemonic to remember note names for the lines of the bass clef is: GBDFA "Good Boys Do Fine 

Always." And for the spaces: ACEG, "All Cows Eat Grass."


Referenced from: https://www.musicnotes.com/now/tips/how-to-read-sheet-



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