One of the most important things to learn about music is the types of music clefs.
Music clefs are written at the beginning of each staff on sheet music. There are several different types of clefs, like G-clef (also called a treble clef), C-clef, and neutral clefs.
Today, we’re going to learn about the bass clef and the bass clef notes which tend to be the home of the low notes.
What is a Bass Clef?
The bass clef, sometimes called the F clef, is a musical clef for low pitched instruments like the cello, bass guitar, trombone, tuba, and bassoon.
The bass clef symbol looks like a half heart, or a backwards C, with two little dots on the side. The clef is determined by what ledger lines are in between the dots on the bass clef. One dot goes over the second staff line, one dot goes under. These dots show us where the F note is.
In piano sheet music you’ll see both the treble clef and the bass clef and on a piano keyboard they are separated by middle C. This is also called the grand staff where the left hand part on a piano, the low notes on a harp, and bass and baritone voices in a choir is the bass staff. The other staff displays a different clef, the treble clef or treble staff, and is played on the right hand.
Baritone Clef and Sub-Bass Clef
Even though they aren’t really used any more, you might see a couple different versions of the bass clef.
The baritone clef used to be for baritone voice. The notes are a bit higher than the normal bass clef, and the dots go around the middle line of the staff.
The sub-bass clef is the lowest clef in the world. It was used for low bass parts. With a sub-bass clef, the two dots are positioned around the top line.
Chances are, you won’t see the baritone clef and the sub-bass clef very often. To keep things easier, most music just uses a normal bass clef instead.
What are the Bass Clef Notes?
Bass clef notes on the staff are different than notes on a treble clef staff and form a sort of musical alphabet.
Let’s look at the notes on the staff lines first. Each line or space represents a single note.
On a bass clef music staff, the line notes are: G B D F A.
Some ways to remember these musical notes are using a mnemonic device Good Boys Do Fine Always, or Great Big Dogs Frighten Alice.
The spaces in the music staff are for the notes starting at the bottom space are A, C, E, and G.
You can remember this with the phrase, All Cows Eat Grass.
So to review, the bass clef notes on the staff lines are G B D F A (Good Boys Do Fine Always). The music notes in the spaces are A C E G starting with the first space note (All Cows Eat Grass).
The same ledger lines on different clefs are actually different notes, which each represent a white key on the piano. The fourth line of the staff in a treble clef is a D, where as the fourth line of the bass staff is an F. The bottom line is this can be very confusing for some people and take quite a bit of mental gymnastics however, practice makes perfect.
How to Draw a Bass Clef
The bass clef symbol is probably one of the easiest clefs to draw.
To start, the best way is to draw a dot on the second highest line in the staff.
Then draw up to the top line, around, and down to create the right side of a heart.
If you have trouble with this, try drawing a backward C instead.
Add two dots, one above the second line and one below. And now you have a bass clef!
Summary
Today, we talked about the musical staff, bass clef, as well as the baritone clef and sub-bass clef which are the homes of the lowest notes.
We also learned about the bass clef notes on the modern staff, music notation for piano, sight-reading, and other instruments that use lower notes on the bass clef.
The easiest way remember the notes, just remember the mnemonics, Good Boys Do Fine Always and All Cows Eat Grass.
Do you have any questions about the bass clef? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know!
One of the most important things to learn about music is the types of music clefs.
Music clefs are written at the beginning of the music. There are several different types of clefs, like G-clef (also called a treble clef), C-clef, and neutral clefs.
Today, we’re going to learn about the bass clef and the bass clef notes.
What is a Bass Clef?
The bass clef, sometimes called the F clef, is a musical clef for low pitched instruments like the cello, bass guitar, trombone, tuba, and bassoon.
The bass clef symbol looks like a half heart, or a backwards C, with two little dots on the side. One dot goes over the second staff line, one dot goes under. These dots show us where the F note is.
Bass clef is also used for the left hand part on a piano, the low notes on a harp, and bass and baritone voices in a choir.
Baritone Clef and Sub-Bass Clef
Even though they aren’t really used any more, you might see a couple different versions of the bass clef.
The baritone clef used to be for baritone voice. The notes are a bit higher than the normal bass clef, and the dots go around the middle line of the staff.
The sub-bass clef is the lowest clef in the world. It was used for low bass parts. With a sub-bass clef, the two dots are positioned around the top line.
Chances are, you won’t see the baritone clef and the sub-bass clef very often. To keep things easier, most music just uses a normal bass clef instead.
What are the Bass Clef Notes?
Bass clef notes on the staff are different than notes on a treble clef staff.
Let’s look at the notes on the staff lines first.
On a bass clef music staff, the line notes are: G B D F A.
Some ways to remember these notes are Good Boys Do Fine Always, or Great Big Dogs Frighten Alice.
The spaces in the music staff are for the notes A, C, E, and G.
You can remember this with the phrase, All Cows Eat Grass.
So to review, the bass clef notes on the staff lines are G B D F A (Good Boys Do Fine Always). The music notes in the spaces are A C E G (All Cows Eat Grass).
How to Draw a Bass Clef
The bass clef symbol is probably one of the easiest clefs to draw.
To start, draw a dot on the second highest line in the staff.
Then draw up to the top line, around, and down to create the right side of a heart.
If you have trouble with this, try drawing a backward C instead.
Add two dots, one above the second line and one below. And now you have a bass clef!
Summary
Today, we talked about the bass clef, as well as the baritone clef and sub-bass clef.
We also learned about the bass clef notes for piano, sight-reading, and other instruments that use bass clef.
To remember the notes, just remember the mnemonics, Good Boys Do Fine Always and All Cows Eat Grass.
Do you have any questions about the bass clef? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know!
Hello - I'm Jessica Roberts and I'm an avid horn player. My primary instrument is the french horn which I started playing way back in beginning band in middle school. I recently graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Music Education and I'm currently an Assistant Band Director at a High School here in Florida.
My goal is to help inspire students to learn about music, and to play an instrument. Music in schools is so important and gives students of every age a richness that they can't get anywhere else.
