If you see a pitch below the space you know is E, then it’s a D – it’s that simple. If you know where A and C are on the staff, then you can quickly identify that the pitch on the line between them is a B. This trick is helpful for anyone first starting out because with it, any pitch you need to identify on the staff is at most a letter away. However, identifying them on the staff might take you a second – here’s a trick that can help speed things up for you: FACEĪs you can see, the white spaces on the treble clef conveniently spell out the word, “FACE” (with bass clef, the position of FACE simply drops down by a third, or one space, on the staff). If you’re a producer or guitarist, you’re likely to be already familiar with the names of pitches (C, F#, Db, etc). If you’re an absolute beginner at reading sheet music, one of the first things you need to learn is how pitches are organized on a staff. A beginner cheat code: Quickly identifying pitches on a staff

We’ll go through three cheat codes at three difficulty levels, spanning tricks helpful for absolute beginners as well as seasoned sheet music readers. That said, staff notation still remains as a universal standard, a common language that can be shared between any two musicians.įor this reason, even if you produce great music using solely MIDI scrolls, it never hurts to be able to read sheet music – one day you might have to transcribe a piano part to have it recorded by a pianist, and you wouldn’t want to have to learn for the first time then! This article will provide you a series of tips, tricks, and mnemonic devices to kickstart your ability to quickly identify some key aspects of a piece of music written in sheet notation.

The rise in popularity of alternative notations such as MIDI and tablature has changed this notion, expanding notation to be more idiomatic for musicians across different walks. Start today with a 1-month free trial to Splice Sounds.īack in the day, the ability to read sheet music was essential for composing, performing, and analyzing Western music. Expand your sound with access to over 2 million samples, loops, FX, and presets. This is a guest post by Splice, a ReverbNation Marketplace participant.

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