Identifying piano notes on the treble and bass clef

Identifying piano notes

In this lesson on piano notes identification we will take the mystery out of knowing what tones (notes) are represented by those "black dots" on and between the lines on a Treble Clef and Bass Clef. Have you ever looked at a piece of sheet music and wondered how the person playing knows what keys to play on the piano?

Before we begin, you need to know that a "full size" piano keyboard is comprised of 88 keys. It (the keyboard) contains 7 octaves beginning with an A tone (note) on the lower end and ending with a C tone (note) on the high end. The seven octaves therefore begin on this lower A tone (note) and proceed to the next A tone (note) up the piano keyboard. This pattern is repeated 7 times. Actually, if you want to be "technical", the piano keyboard is 7 octaves plus the notes Bb, B, and C on the high end.

Now before we begin our piano notes identification on the treble clef, bass clef, and grand staff we will need to identify where "middle C" is on the piano keyboard. As the name implies middle C "splits" the keyboard down the middle. To find it begin on the lower A tone (note) we discussed earlier and count up 40 tones (notes), black and white piano notes. The 40th tone (note) is middle C.

The top part of the Grand Staff is called the Treble Clef (or Treble Staff) and the bottom portion is known as the Bass Clef (or Bass Staff). The two together form the Grand Staff. The graphic below shows the tones (notes) as they appear on a Treble Clef and Bass Clef.

By viewing this graphic you can see why I took the time to explain about middle C on the piano. If the piano notes are located on a Treble Clef, they will be played above middle C. If the notes are located on the Bass Clef, they will be played below middle C. While it looks like there should be more tones (notes) between the B located just above the last line on the Bass Clef and Middle C located just below the D tone (note) below the Treble Clef, these two tones (notes) are side by side on the piano keyboard.

In addition to learning how to identify piano notes, you also need to know what key signatures are. A key signature is all those sharps (#) and flats (b) you see following the treble clef and bass clef symbols either on or between the line(s). The number of sharps or flats tell you what "key" a piece of music is in.

For example, if there are no sharps or flats on the treble or bass clefs, the music piece is in the key of "C". You will remember from your study of piano scales that a C major scale is all white keys, no sharps or flats. On the graphic above, let's say that there was a sharp symbol (#) where the F & C notes are located. This would mean the music piece was in the key of "D". Again, refresh your memory on piano scales, the D major scale is composed of D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D (octave).

Do not let the information provided here overwhelm you. There is a neat tool you can download which will provide you a means to learn note identification on the treble clef, bass clef, and grand staff. In addition to learning how to identify piano notes, you will also see the corresponding key signatures on the treble clef and bass clef while you are learning. Click piano notes to download this application to your computer. This will open a new window. When you are finished you close the window and come back here.

You now possess the knowledge to form a scale from any point on the piano. You can use this knowledge of scales to form major, minor, 7th, and other types of piano chords. You have a working knowledge of some of the more popular chord progressions and how to form the required scale tone chords. And with this lesson on piano notes identification and the cool piano notes ID application, you will be able to identify notes on a treble clef or bass clef.

It is my sincere wish (and hope) that the information provided on this site has been of benefit to you in your endeavor to learn to play the piano and to learn the basics of music education. Now...get back to practice!!