From the course: Theory for the Contemporary Guitarist

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Notes on the staff

Notes on the staff

- Music is written by placing notes on a staff. Notes appear in various ways and are made up of note heads, stems and flags. The staff has five lines and four spaces. The notes are written on the lines and spaces of the staff. And each is named after a letter in the musical alphabet, which goes alphabetically from A to G, and then repeats. Music is always read from left to right. So if you look to the beginning of the staff, you'll see what we call a clef. The clef tells you what note corresponds to a particular line or space on the staff. Guitar music is written in treble clef, which is sometimes called the G clef. You can see how the ending curl of the clef circles the G line. A good way to begin reading music is to memorize the names of the lines and the names of the spaces separately. The higher or lower a note is written on the staff the higher or lower it actually sounds. So, the highness or lowness of a tone or a…

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