How to Read Music Ledger Lines for Piano

Today you are going to learn how to read music ledger lines for piano.

Make sure you take a look at my blog post on How to Read Music Notes. Here I will teach you all your notes on your treble and bass clef. As well you can look at our blog post for Piano Note Names which covers all your note names. Those are both some great prequel posts to take a look at to prep you for today’s lesson.

Ledger Lines Between the Bass and Treble Clefs

If you take a look at the top line on the bass clef we know that is an A. Which you would have learned in our How to Read Music Notes post. If you keep going higher you would get the notes B, Middle C, D, E, F, G and so on.

For the bottom line in the treble clef we know that is an E. If you go lower we get D, Middle C, B, A, G, F and so on.

When you take a look at the example below the B notes are the same note. The difference is that the stem going up is played with the right and the other is played with the left. The ledger lines in the middle give flexibility for the composer to have the right hand play lower notes and the left hand to play higher notes.

How to Read Ledger Lines Above the Treble Clef

For the notes above the treble clef you first need to take a look at the top line F. If you keep following the notes up the musical alphabet you get G, A, B, C, D, E and so on.

How to Read Ledger Lines Below the Bass Clef

If you look at the lowest line on the Bass Clef you get G. After that you can continue the notes down F, E, D, C, B, A and so on.

The ACE

So what is a good way to remember your ledger lines going up and down? You will notice that the top three ledger lines in the treble clef and bottom three ledger lines in the bass clef both spell ACE. That is a really good way to remember your ledger lines above and below the staffs.

Why Do We Need Ledger Lines?

I’ve often been asked by students, “why do we even need ledger lines?” The answer is that the brain can only comprehend about five lines and four spaces quickly when reading music. If we were looking at a staff of 26 lines this would be way more confusing. The treble and bass clef cover the most common notes and the ledger lines expand those parameters on the rare occasion that we need to extend the staff.

Well I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson. I hope you check back for more piano and vocal lessons for your musical adventure.

Linnea Loves Music