TREBLE CLEF

reading music To read treble clef pitch just remember middle C is

the first line below the stave:
What do you need to know before learning jazz? There
are a few skills required:

PITCH VS RHYTHM
Sheet music tells you 2 things - pitch and rhythm:

• Pitch means which note to play. From that note you can count upwards - each line or
• Rhythm means when to play it. space indicates the next white note up on the piano.

I think it’s important for all musicians to be able to read Some people use the rhyme ‘Every - Good - Boy -
pitch - certainly for the treble clef, and ideally bass clef Deserves - Food’ to remember the lines of the treble clef
too. This is necessary so you can play the melody line, and - which go E G B D F:

can be learnt quickly (in as little as a few hours).

Rhythm is more difficult and takes time. However I

don’t consider reading rhythm to be nearly as important -
it’s easy to learn rhythms by ear just by listening to a
recording, and you can get a rough idea when to play
BASS CLEF
notes just by looking at the spacing of notes on the page.
To read bass clef pitch just remember middle C is the
first line above the stave (like the treble clef turned
upside-down):

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 Alternatively, a flat or sharp can be undone using a
Tackle each clef separately so as not to confuse the two -
‘natural’ sign which looks like this:
spend a week practicing treble clef, and a week on bass
clef.

SHARPS / FLATS / NATURALS

Lastly each note can be sharpened of flattened - a sharp
sign (#) in front of a note means to raise it by a half-step,
And finally, most sheet music uses a ‘key signature’ - which
and a flat sign (b) means to lower it a half-step:
is a set of sharps or flats shown at the start of the piece,
and which remain in place for the entire song (unless
otherwise specified):

Once a note has been sharpened or flattened, any repeats

of that note will also be sharpened / flattened for the rest
of the bar. For example, flattening the first E in the bar,
means that all following E’s will also become Eb, until the
following bar where E is back to normal.

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 Stop searching for advice and start learning jazz piano today!
This PDF is a free chapter from Julian’s Jazz Theory Explained ebook,
which gives you 100 pages of clear jazz piano instruction…
Practice tips to end each section…
And links to Julian’s best videos:

Click here to learn more

Or visit www.JazzHeroBooks.com

Testimonials:
“I purchased your Jazz Theory Explained ebook and within 5 minutes knew that it was exactly what I’ve been looking for for years.Thanks for
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I lucked into Julian Bradley on YouTube, watched every video he presented, made copious notes, and then went through the horrors of “oops,
which video did he show his favorite major 7th voicing in?” All of that is in the past as Julian has now published the most understandable
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