Double Bass: Reading Bass Clef

Double Bass: Reading Bass Clef

Bass Clef aka F Clef

The bass clef looks like this. It is also called the F clef because it points to the line where F lives. If you look at the bass clef on the staff, there are two dots and they are on either side of the fourth line (from the bottom). The note that goes on that line is F.

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• G

• B

• D

• F

• A

Lines of the Bass Clef

The sentence to remember the line notes of the bass clef is "Good Burritos Don't Fall Apart" from bottom to top. Look at the staff on the left to see how that works. A note is a line note if the line goes through the note.

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• G(ood)

• B(urritos)

• D(on't)

• F(all)

• A(part)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• G(ood)

• B(urritos)

• D(on't)

• F(all)

• A(part)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• G(ood)

• B(urritos)

• D(on't)

• F(all)

• A(part)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• G(ood)

• B(urritos)

• D(on't)

• F(all)

• A(part)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• G(ood)

• B(urritos)

• D(on't)

• F(all)

• A(part)

Bass Clef Spaces

The sentence to remember the space notes of the bass clef is "All Cows Eat Grass" from bottom to top. Look at the staff on the left to see how that works. A note is a space note if the note is in the space between two lines.

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• A(ll)

• C(ows)

• E(at)

• G(rass)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• A(ll)

• C(ows)

• E(at)

• G(rass)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• A(ll)

• C(ows)

• E(at)

• G(rass)

Multiple Choice

What note is this?

• A(ll)

• C(ows)

• E(at)

• G(rass)

Lines & Spaces

Let's see if we can combine the lines and the spaces. Read over the words to remind you before you continue to the next few questions. Sometimes it's helpful to say them out loud a few times. When you are first trying to get better at reading notes, start by figuring out whether the note is a line or a space note, and then start at the bottom and say your words until you get to the note.

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Ledger Lines

Sometimes notes are too high or too low to fit inside the staff. Reminder: "the staff" means the five long lines that the notes go on or in the spaces between. Ledger lines are like mini extension lines above and below the staff for individual notes that don't fit. Notes will still be line notes or space notes, but you have you look more closely. Line notes will still have a line going through the middle, so you should be able to identify those.

Counting Ledger Lines From the Staff

If we think of our line note sentence, "Good burritos don't fall apart", that means that the top line of the staff is A. That means that the note on top of the staff will be B (because B comes after A in the musical alphabet - A B C D E F G A B etc.). See that note on the right? That note is B.

We can continue counting up from B to figure out what other ledger line notes are. Notes always go Line-Space-Line-Space-Line-Space as we count, so that means that the note on the right is the note C. It is on its own mini line, one note above the B that sits on top of the staff. Ledger lines are mini extensions of the staff, so you could imagine that there are invisible parts of the line that extend to be as long as the main staff lines.

This note is D, because it's on top of the line that went through C.

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Landmark Note

This note is C, and you may have heard it called Middle C. It is a line note on the first ledger line above the bass clef. It is a good one to try to remember so that you can use it to figure out what other notes above it are.

Counting Example

In this example, we are using the C landmark, knowing that the first line above the staff is our C. If we follow the arrows and look at the imaginary notes as we go up, we can see that it goes C --> D --> E --> F --> G, which means that our written note is G. Try using this same strategy on the next slide.

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Pay close attention if you didn't get the last question right. This is how you should have been figuring out the answer. Using our C landmark, we count C --> D --> E --> F, which means that F is the correct answer!

Try a few on your own!

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Do you remember the note that was right above the top line of the staff? It's called B.

Ledger Lines Below

Ledger lines can also be underneath the staff. The note directly underneath the staff is called F, because it's right below G (Good Burritos Don't Fall apart). You can see it on the right.

Landmark E

The first ledger line beneath the staff is also the lowest open string on the bass, so it's a good one to remember and use as a landmark!

Review

• Lines: Good Burritos Don't Fall Apart

• Spaces: All Cows Eat Grass

• The note that lives on top of the staff is B.

• The note that lives underneath the staff is F.

• Ledger lines are mini extensions of the staff.

• The first ledger line above the staff is C.

• The first ledger line below the staff is E.

What's next?

If you need a review, you can always revisit this presentation. If you feel confident, you can continue on to the quiz that uses this material to give you lots of practice at identifying notes!