Bass Clef Notes
Every bass clef note from E2 up to middle C on one staff: tap a note to hear it, see where it sits and find its key on the piano.
Tap any note on the staff to hear it, see where it sits and find its key on the piano. ← → step through the notes.
Lines, bottom to top: . Spaces, bottom to top: .
Keys C to B answer. For timed drills, sharps and flats, a piano or microphone answer and your accuracy per note, open the note reading trainer.
How to use the bass clef notes chart
The notes on the bass clef are G B D F A on the lines and A C E G in the spaces; this chart shows every bass clef note from E2 up to middle C, and you tap any note to hear it and find its key on the piano. The chart runs through the bass clef notes from E2, one ledger line below the staff, up to middle C, one ledger line above it. Tap a note to hear it, read its name and position in the box under the staff, and see its key light up on the keyboard. Tap a white key to find the note on the staff instead. The left and right arrow keys walk through the notes in order.
Use the chips to switch views. Lines, Spaces and Ledger lines pick out one group. Grand staff puts the treble staff on top so you can see where the two clefs meet. Quiz asks one note at a time, answered with the letter buttons or the keys C to B.
The lines and spaces of the bass clef
From the bottom up, the five lines of the bass staff are G B D F A (G2, B2, D3, F3, A3), and the four spaces are A C E G (A2, C3, E3, G3). Common mnemonics are Good Boys Do Fine Always for the lines and All Cows Eat Grass for the spaces.
The most common mistake is reading bass clef as if it were treble clef. Every note in the bass staff sits one line or space higher than the same letter in the treble staff: the bottom line is G, not E, and the top space is G, not E. If you learned treble clef first, do not shift the treble names down; learn the bass staff as its own map, with its own landmarks.
Why it is called the F clef
The bass clef is an F clef. Its two dots sit on either side of the fourth line from the bottom, and that line is F3, the F below middle C. Find the dots, call that line F, and you can count to any other note. With F3 and middle C as landmarks, most of the staff is only a step or two away.
Middle C and the grand staff
Piano music uses two staffs joined by a brace: treble on top, bass below. Middle C (C4) sits exactly between them. On the bass staff it is the first ledger line above; on the treble staff it is the first ledger line below. The two positions look different but are the same key, the 40th of 88. B3 just under that ledger line on the bass side and D4 just above it on the treble side are its neighbours. Tap Grand staff to see middle C drawn on both staffs side by side.
Every bass clef note in the chart
| Note | Where it sits | Piano key (of 88) |
|---|---|---|
| C4 | on ledger line 1 above the staff | 40 |
| B3 | in the space just above the staff | 39 |
| A3 | on the top line | 37 |
| G3 | in the fourth (top) space | 35 |
| F3 | on the fourth line | 33 |
| E3 | in the third space | 32 |
| D3 | on the middle line | 30 |
| C3 | in the second space | 28 |
| B2 | on the second line | 27 |
| A2 | in the first (bottom) space | 25 |
| G2 | on the bottom line | 23 |
| F2 | in the space just below the staff | 21 |
| E2 | on ledger line 1 below the staff | 20 |
Who reads the bass clef
According to the Wikipedia article Clef, the bass clef is used for the cello, double bass, bass guitar, bassoon, trombone, tuba and timpani, and for baritone and bass voices. It is also the lower staff of the grand staff for piano and harp. Cellists can find each of these notes on the strings in the cello notes chart, and tuba and bass players can check their pitch with the tuba tuner and bass tuner. The double bass and bass guitar sound an octave lower than written (Wikipedia, Transposing instrument), so the E2 in this chart is played an octave lower on those instruments. Drill the notes against the clock in the note reading trainer, or look at the treble clef notes to learn the upper staff.
More for piano: Online Piano · Piano Chords · Piano Scales · Chord Finder · Treble Clef Notes
More for cello: Cello Tuner · Cello Notes
Questions
What are the notes on the lines of the bass clef?
From the bottom line up: G, B, D, F, A (G2, B2, D3, F3, A3). A common mnemonic is Good Boys Do Fine Always.
What are the notes in the spaces of the bass clef?
From the bottom space up: A, C, E, G (A2, C3, E3, G3). A common mnemonic is All Cows Eat Grass.
Where is middle C on the bass clef?
On the first ledger line above the staff. It is the same C4 that sits one ledger line below the treble staff.
Why do bass clef notes look wrong to treble clef readers?
Each bass clef note sits one line or space higher than the same letter in treble clef, so reading it with treble names makes every note a third off. Learn the bass lines G B D F A as their own set.