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So, you want to get better at reading piano notes? The bass clef notes are not very difficult to learn once you learn this simple trick that almost all musicians use to help them memorize them.

The notes of the bass clef are different from the notes in the treble clef. To read musical notes, you have to look at the lines and spaces on the staff.

The staff is the set of lines that the notes sit on. To read the notes, you look at where the note falls on the staff, and this tells you the name of the note.

Each note has a place that it sits on the staff lines. It either sits on a line or a space. This means that it either smashed between two lines, or it has a line running through it. 

Before we start looking at the names of the notes let’s take a look at what the bass clef looks like.

The Piano Staff

Both the bass and treble clef are made up of lines and spaces. Each clef has five lines and four spaces. Each line and each space represents a different note. 

The image below shows the staff lines that the notes fall on.

The two clefs tell us a lot of important information. This blank set of lines tells us the note names, and they also tell us if that note should be played with the right hand or the left hand.

At the beginning of each line of music, there is a symbol which shows the clef.

The bass clef symbol looks like a backwards C with two dots. 

All of the bass clef notes are to be played with the left hand. 

The bass clef can also be called the F clef. This is because if you look closely at the two dots that make up the bass clef symbol, you will see that the two dots fall on an F note.

Where Are Bass Notes

Bass notes normally fall below Middle C. Sometimes the notes come above middle C, but not very often. Middle C is kind of the cut-off between the two clefs.

Look at the image and you will see that the notes on the bass clef are almost always below Middle C. Middle C is almost always where the bass clef starts.

What if a note is above Middle C, and is still in the Bass Clef…… 

This just tells us that you have to play that note with the left hand. A lot of times bass clef notes are above Middle C, that means that the right hand is either out of reach or playing other notes.

The lowest note on the Bass Clef is a G. Some songs will have you play lower than this, but this is normally the cut off. 

If a note does go below G, just keep going down the musical alphabet. Count each line and space until you reach the note.

Bass Clef Notes

The note that falls on the top line of the bass clef is an A. Go down to the space below you have a G. Below the G is an F. You can keep going down counting each of the lines and spaces until you find the note you are needing to know.

As you go down the staff, the notes go down the musical alphabet. If you know the top line is an A, you can count down the musical alphabet until you get to the note you want.

This approach works, but it can take forever. 

Take a look at the image and see how each note goes up and down the musical alphabet as you move from line to space.
Remember that the musical alphabet is different from the normal alphabet. In musical notation it goes from A through G. Once you get to G, you start over again at A. 

Make sure that when you are trying to find the bass clef notes that you keep this pattern in mind.

Trick To Learning Bass Clef Notes

The way I showed you above is a difficult way of learning bass clef notes. There’s a much quicker way of learning these notes for a beginner. 

You can use what’s called a mnemonic phrase to help you remember. A mnemonic phrase is a short sentence that helps you enforce things into the long-term memory. 

Good Boys Do Fine Always – Lines

All Cows Eat Grass – Spaces

The first letter in each word tells you the note name from the bottom line or space.

• If the note is on a line: Start with the G on the bottom line, and then go up the lines saying the phrase.
• If your note is on a space: Start with the A on the bottom space and then go up the spaces saying the sentence.

These two sentences are how almost all piano teachers start teaching bass clef notes to beginner students. If you can commit these sentences to memory you will much more quickly be able to identify the bass clef notes.

If you need help memorizing the note names, you can use flash cards. Making flash cards of each note in the clef will help you be able to quickly name the notes. This will help when you are trying to play a piece of music and you need to quickly recall the note name. 

Lesson #10 – Sight Reading

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Want to learn how to play any chord on the piano?

There are 2 unique techniques that are used to play any chord that you could ever imagine.

And all you need is a formula!

In the video below I share 2 special techniques that are used to play any chord, in any key on the piano.

The 2 techniques are:

1. Interval Stacking
2. Number Stacking

These two methods are used to play and construct any chord under the sun.

All you need is a formula that look a little something like this 1+3+5

This formula is used to play any major chord on the piano.

Watch the video now to learn how to use these 2 techniques to play any chord on the piano.

How to Build ANY Chord!

Here are the formulas you need…

Interval Stacking Formulas:

Major Chord: Root + Major 3rd + Perfect 5th
Minor Chord: Root + Minor 3rd + Perfect 5th
Diminished Chord: Root + Minor 3rd + Tritone
Augmented Chord: Root + Major 3rd + Minor 6th

Number Stacking Formulas:

Major Chord: 1 + 3 + 5
Minor Chord: 1 + b3 + 5
Diminished Chord: 1 + b3 + b5
Augmented Chord: 1 + 3 + #5

You can use either of these formulas to build and play the chords in any key on the piano.

Apologize One Republic was written by frontman Ryan Tedder and was on the groups debut album Dreaming Out Loud.

Tutorial

Apologize One republic is in the key of Eb. It has three flats. The notes for this scale are Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb C, and D.

Intro

The left hand on the into starts by playing octaves. Play a C octave, Ab octave, Eb octave, then D octaves. This repeats throughout the whole song. You can add a little more movement with your left hand if you like, see the video for help.

The right hand is a little more dificult. You start by playing a thir inversion C Minor chord . Instead of playing the full chord play the individual notes in this order. Eb, G, C, G, Eb, G, C, G. then move to the F Minor Chord and play the notes in this order F, Ab, C, Ab, F, Ab, C, Ab.

Next is Eb Major chord with the notes in this order G, Bb, Eb, Ab, G, Bb, Eb, Ab. Then play Bb Major chord with these notes F, Bb, D, Bb, F, Bb, D, Bb.

Once you have learned the above, instead of playing the notes individually play the top two notes of the chord together and then the bottom note by itself. Make a rocking motion back in forth between the two notes.

Chorus

The chorus for Apologize One Republic starts with the right hand on the Bb and Eb together and then moves to a C then back to the Bb. Play this three times then play Ab, G, F, Eb. Re peat this throughout the chorus. The Left hand stays the same as in the verse and intro.

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Video Tutorial

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Chords

Intro: Cm Fm/Ab Eb Bb/D Repeat

Verse

Cm Fm/Ab Eb Bb/D Repeat 4x

Chorus

Cm Fm/Ab Eb Bb/D Repeat 2x

Outro

Cm Fm/Ab Eb

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Lyrics

Verse 1
I’m holding on your rope
Got me ten feet off the ground
And I’m hearing what you say
But I just can’t make a sound

You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you’re sorry
Didn’t think I’d turn around and say

Chorus
That it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late

Verse 2
I’d take another chance, take a fall
Take a shot for you
And I need you like a heart needs a beat
But that’s nothing new, yeah yeah

I loved you with a fire red, now it’s turning blue
And you say sorry like the angel
Heaven let me think was you
But I’m afraid

Chorus 2x

Outro
I’m holding on your rope
Got me ten feet off the ground

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To become a better piano player, you have to know how to effectively practice piano. Sitting down and practicing is great, but if you want to get the most out of your time, it’s important that your practice time is used wisely.

There are a number of areas in which a piano player must focus on each time they sit down to practice. It is essential that each practice session consists of these few important ideas so you are not wasting any time.

Have you ever got in front of the piano with a piece of music, or a song, that you just couldn’t get? Here are a few tips that will help you get the most out of your time and make sure that you are setting strong playing habits, rather than learning wrong ones.

For Starters

Stretching

Before you even touch a key you need to stretch out your hands, fingers, and body.

Sitting at the piano for long periods of time can cause fatigue on your body and hands. If you take the time to stretch before you start playing, you will more likely be able to sit and practice piano for longer periods of time without getting tired.

Finger and Hand Stretches

1. Put your right arm straight out in front of your body with your fingers straight up in the air. Use your left hand and grab the tips of your fingers and pull back toward you. Pull just enough to feel the tension in your forearm. Do this stretch with both the right and left hands.
2. Inter-lock the fingers of both hands. Turn the palms of your hands away from your body stretching out your fingers This stretches your forearms and fingers.
3. For a more light stretch that is focussed on the fingers, inter-lock your fingers like before, move your hands down to isolate the fingers.
4. Hold both hands loosely out in front of your body. Shake them in both directions to loosen up you hands and fingers.
5. This stretch requires you to sit at the piano. Start with the thumb in your right hand. Start by playing the C Major Scale. Play the C note with your thumb, and as you go to play the next note, raise your index finger as high as you can before you play the note. Continue up the scale, raising each finger as high as feels comfortable to stretch the fingers. One you feel comfortable doing this with the C Major Scale, you can use other scales to practice piano.

Body Stretches

1. Start by putting head straight down like you are looking at the floor. Roll your head in a complete circle stretching out your neck. Start out by going to the right, then do the same thing rolling it to the left.
2. Raise your shoulders straight up and rotate them back in a circular motion making a complete circle. Do this a few times, then switch and rotate them forward.
3. To stretch your back, sit up straight and arch your shoulders forward down toward the floor. Feel your backstretch. Then lean your shoulders back to get the same stretch in the opposite direction.

Warm-Ups

Each and every practice piano you should have time built in for warm-ups. A lot of times people forget about these, but they are very important. It allows your fingers to get warm to help you to fight finger fatigue and makes them move faster.

1. Scales – The best warm-up exercise I have found for starters is playing scales. Start with the C Major Scale with the right hand by itself.
2. Hanon – Hanon exercises are great. They are set of warm-ups by Charles-Louis Hanon. There are tons of different warm-ups to help make your fingers stronger, faster, and have more stamina. Be careful though not to focus too much time on these Hanon exercises when you practice piano, only limit yourself to about 10 to 15 minutes per day.

Practice Piano Sheet Music

1. Study the Sheet Music – Take a moment and look at the pice of music you are bout to play. Before you can start practicing and playing the pice you need to know as much as you can about it first. Look at the time signature, the number of sharps or flats, the tempo, and the structure of the song. It’s important to do this before you start playing so you know where to go in the song and what notes to play and so on. Take a few minutes to study the entire piece of music before you practice piano to give yourself an overview of the song and its elements.
2. Separate Hands – If you have never seen a piece of music before, the best way learn the piece is to play each hand separate from the other. Start with the right hand and treble clef. Play through a section of the song until you have that down. Once you have perfected that, play the bass clef note in the left hand separately. When you feel confident with both of hands played separate, play both of the hands together. This will be difficult for a beginner. It’s hard to get both hands to work together at first, but as you continue to practice piano you will see that it gets easier with time.
3. Sectioning – Rather than trying to play the entire song all the way through to the end, section the music into more manageable chunks. Start with the first verse, first page, first line, or the first ten bars. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Your brain works better in smaller chunks. Don’t try and learn the whole piece all at once, learn one section, and add on to that until you have mastered the entire piece of sheet music.

Practice Piano Chords

1. Inversions – One of the things that helped me the most with chord piano was practicing piano chord inversions. I would sit down for periods of 15 to 20 minutes and just practice each inversion. Start with the right hand by itself. Pick a chord that is not as common to you. Play the root inversion, first inversion, and second inversion once after the other up and then down the piano keyboard. Do this with both hands until you feel comfortable with the fingering for the chord, and the notes for the chord.
2. Know the Chord Progression – Make sure that when you start practicing a song that you know the chord progression. If you are following the chords from a piece of music, take the time to study the chords and the progression of the song. It’s hard to just follow chords by looking at them for the first time. Look through the piece of music, find any chords that you are unfamiliar with. Learn the notes in those chords. Find any strange changes from one chord to the next that might be uncommon for you. Get a basic understanding of the progressions and chord changes. Taking a little time up front can really help when it comes time to actually start playing the song.
3. Learn the Melody – When you practice piano chords you almost always need to be familiar with the melody of the song. This can be helpful when adding in fills and other musical elements to the song. If you are playing by ear, get a rough understanding of the melody. If it is written on the sheet music, go through and play it a few times to get familiar with it. It is always helpful to know the melody of the song so you can incorporate it into the song when you are playing.
4. Create Fills and Improvisation – Once you know the song pretty well and feel comfortable playing it, go through and create a few fills that you like. If you are playing with a vocalist or band, find places where it seems empty. Then add your own personal element and style to the song. If you plan ahead in your piano practice, it makes it a lot easier to make it happen in a live performance.

Practice Makes Perfect

We have all heard this saying. It is very much true. If you take the time every day to practice the piano you will find yourself getting noticeably better. But, before you just sit down and practice piano, make sure you follow some of these ideas so you can get the most out of you time.

You will find yourself able to practice longer and stay more focussed if you follow these steps. It’s not all about the amount of time that you spend, it’s about how effective that time is. Use these tips and see how much you improve!

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