Each of those lines and each of those spaces represents a different letter, which in turn represents a note. The staff consists of five lines and four spaces. All music contains these fundamental components, and to learn how to read music, you must first familiarize yourself with these basics.

Music is made up of a variety of symbols, the most basic of which are the staff, the clefs, and the notes. How to Read Music Step 1: Learn the Basic Symbols of Musical Notation Keep reading to the end for some free tools and sheet music arrangements to help you learn. Learning how to read music really does open up a whole new world to explore!įollow our step-by-step introduction to reading music and, with a little practice, you’ll be playing along in no time. Think of the notes as the letters, the measures as the words, the phrases as the sentences, and so on. They represent the pitch, speed, and rhythm of the song they convey, as well as expression and techniques used by a musician to play the piece. The symbols you see on pages of sheet music have been used for hundreds of years. Have you ever heard a song on the radio and thought, “Hey, it’d be really cool to know how to play that, I wonder what the music notes are?” Do you have friends who play musical instruments, and you want to join in on the fun? Do you want to expand your general artistic knowledge? Well, learning the basics of how to read sheet music can help you achieve all of these, and in a shorter amount of time than you might think!Īt its very simplest, music is a language just like you’d read aloud from a book.

D flat major scale treble and bass clef