The Notes

There are 7 white keys on the piano, and 5 black keys:

• The White keys are called naturals. 
• The Black keys are either Sharps or Flats.

These 12 notes then repeat throughout the keyboard.

For now, let’s start with the Naturals – the white keys only:

C – D – E – F – G – A – B

How To Write Notes On The Staff

In The Clefs, we’ve learned where the G is on Treble Clef, and where the F is on Bass Clef.

Treble Clef

Starting with Treble Clef, we can work out the notes up from G:

And from G down to Middle C:

Bass Clef

Mirroring that in the Bass Clef, we can figure out the notes down from F:

And going up from F to Middle C:

How To Quickly Recall The Notes

As you may have noticed, it’s not easy figuring out the notes using a single reference point.

Here is the most common way of recalling the notes quickly:

(Note: while this works great for beginners, over time you should be able to read the notes on the staff as quickly as you’re reading this sentence)

Treble Clef

The five notes on the Treble Clef lines are E–G–B–D–F

Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine

The notes in the Treble Clef spaces are F–A–C–E.

FACE

Bass Clef

The notes on the Bass Clef lines are G–B–D–F–A

Good-Boys-Do-Fine-Always

The notes in the Bass Clef spaces are A–C–E–G

ACE-G

While it’s common to teach the Bass Clef space notes as “All-Cows-Eat-Grass”, we prefer to keep it simpler. In addition, it resembles the Treble Clef’s F-A-C-E and maintains the symmetry:

	Line Notes	Space Notes
Treble Clef	Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine	FACE
Bass Clef	Good-Boys-Do-Fine-Always	ACE-G

The Middle C

Notice how the Middle Cs in both Clefs are mirroring each other.
In the Treble Clef, the Middle C is below the Bottom line.
In the Bass Clef, it is above the top line.