Clefs are symbols that appear at the beginning of a musical staff. They provide an orientation for where specific pitches occur on that staff.

The most common types of clefs in use today are G clefs, F clefs, and C clefs.

The treble clef is a specific type of G clef that is reserved for high voices or instruments.
The bass clef is a specific type of F clef that is reserved for low voices or instruments.

We’ll learn more about these clefs (and others) throughout this course. Let's get started with these two kinds of clefs first!

Exploring the Treble Clef

The treble clef looks like it swirls around the second line from the bottom. This clef is a specific type of “G clef” because it tells the observer where to locate G4 on the staff. In this case, the second line from the bottom will be G4, and that means all other pitches can be located by using this line as a point of reference.

Treble clef with notes D4-G5

When notes are too high or low to be written on a staff, small lines are drawn to extend pitch space. These small lines are called ledger lines. Below we see a staff extended downwards and upwards in treble clef:

Treble clef with notes C4, B3, A3, A5, B5, C6

Exploring the Bass Clef

The bass clef looks like it swirls around the fourth line from the bottom. This clef is a specific type of “F clef” because it tells the observer where to locate F3 on the staff. In this case, the fourth line from the bottom will be F3, and that means all other pitches can be located by using this line as a point of reference.

Bass clef with notes F2-B3

Again, when notes are too high or low to be written on a staff, ledger lines are drawn to extend pitch space. Below we see a staff extended downwards and upwards in bass clef:

Bass clef with notes E2, D2, C2, C4, D4, E4

Wait... what are all these numbers again?

A Review of ASPN (American Standard Pitch Notation)

When discussing specific musical pitches, musicians often use the American Standard Pitch Notation, or ASPN. ASPN designates specific frequencies by combining a note's letter name (like C) with a numeric octave designation (like 4), yielding the label C4, also known as "middle C" or the C that vibrates around 262 times per second. ASPN differentiates between octaves (or registers), beginning with the pitch class C and ending with the pitch class B. This means that each new octave designation increases on every C as pitches get higher. Below you will see a combined treble-clef staff and a bass-clef staff, joined together by a brace at the left margin, in what is known as a grand staff, illustrating ASPN labels in pitch space.

Graphic showing the notes of a full keyboard

More ASPN Examples in Pitch Space

So now we can identify specific pitches in pitch space using ASPN. Below you will find the pitches F3, A4, C5, and F5 illustrated on a keyboard and indicated on a grand staff. See how these pitches look in each space!

Keyboard showing lower frequencies to the left and higher frequencies to the right

Grand staff showing higher frequencies move up and lower frequencies move down

A Review of Pitch-class Space

Remember, pitch-class space is more abstract. When using this space to explore musical ideas we aren't interested in specific pitches, instead we are interested in visualizing the relationship between the different "families" of pitches. So instead of looking at F3, A4, C5, and F5...we would look at the relationships between all of the Fs, As, and Cs. Looking at relationships in pitch-class space (also called a pitch clock) is like cutting slices of pie, or pizza!

Pitch clock highlighting C, F, and A