Treble Clef

The treble clef is the curled symbol at the start of the upper staff. It fixes the second line from the bottom as G above middle C, which is why it is also called the G clef.

Everything on that staff is read from the G. The curl of the symbol actually wraps around the G line, which is a hint hiding in plain sight for four hundred years.

How To Spot Treble Clef

Play the Treble Clef (Notation Glossary)

Tap the highlighted keys — any order.

G
The treble clef is the curled symbol at the start of the upper staff. It fixes the second line from the bottom as G above middle C, which is why it is also call

It is the ornate spiral at the left-hand end of the top staff. If you can only remember one thing about it: the loop encircles the G line.

Find It In Thirty Seconds

Find the treble clef on any piece, trace the curl to the line it wraps, and name that line: G. Then name the note sitting on the line above it: B.

Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.

Related Topics...

  • How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.

  • Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each — clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.

  • Bass Clef: The bass clef is the symbol at the start of the lower staff. Its two dots sit either side of the fourth line up, fixing that line as F below middle C — hence i…

  • Grand Staff: The grand staff is the pair of staves piano music is written on: treble clef on top for the right hand, bass clef underneath for the left, joined by a brace.

  • Middle C: Middle C is the C nearest the middle of the piano, and the note that sits on its own little ledger line between the two staves of piano music.

  • Staff: The staff is the set of five horizontal lines that piano music is written on. A note's vertical position on those lines and the spaces between them tells you w…

More in This Section

  • Triplet: A triplet is three notes played in the time of two of the same value, marked with a small 3 above or below the group.

  • Whole Note: A whole note is a hollow note head with no stem, and it lasts four beats in common time — a full measure of 4/4.

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