Sheet Music Quick Reference

Notes of the treble and bass clefs:

Timing durations for notes:   Tied notes       Timing durations for rests:         Symbols:   = sharp = flat = natural

While much of the music on TabNabber is in "Piano Tab" notation, we have the technology to:
   Turn a piano tab into sheet music     - and -    Turn a guitar tab into sheet music

Sheet music is read from left to right (notes above and below each other are played simultaneously).

Sheet Music for Pianists:

A 49 key keyboard.  "Middle C" is the "c" key in the middle of the keyboard. 
More keyboard layouts.

Here's a simple example of sheet music - the scale of "f" played on two octaves:

Sight Reading Sheet Music (for pianists):

As a musician, you can read and play sheet music by mentally converting the sheet music into note names and then playing the corresponding note on your instrument.

However, advanced pianists don't need to identify all the note names as they play a piece of music.  Finding the note's key on the piano is an important first step, but this would be quite a mental task for playing advanced sheet music.  One way to read sheet music faster is to know that a note equals a specific key (so you don't even think about the name of the note).

A common technique is to use the vertical distance between notes.  Look at how far apart one note is from another and move that distance on the piano... if you work on quickly identifying intervals in sheet music and separately work on moving intervals on the piano with your hands without looking then put the two together it'll help with your sight reading.

Also see:
   How to read piano tabs     - and -     How to read guitar tabs

Comments / Corrections (19):
ruhi [Guest] (11 days ago) i was asking how to read the notation of the piano but the website doesnt show what rubhish Loraine [Guest] (24 days ago) Great Site, looking forward now, in getting to grips with my keyboard :) joey [Guest] (1 month ago) can you make sheet music into piano tab that would be awesome thanks tabnabber! 65.91.116.34 [Guest] (1 month ago) Awsomenesssss MySPAC3fR3Ak [Guest] (2 months ago) Hmm? How Can I Read Sheet Music? I Learned In School Today..Buht Naw Its'z H.A.R.D!!!!!!!!! MySPAC3fR3Ak [Guest] (2 months ago) Hmm? How Can I Read Sheet Music? I Learned In School Today..Buht Naw Its;z H.A.R.D!!!!!!!!! MySPAC3fR3Ak [Guest] (2 months ago) Hmm? How Can I Read Sheet Music? I Learned In School Today..Buht Naw Its;z H.A.R.D!!!!!!!!! Brydie [Guest] (2 months ago) It would be great if there was some basic songs for beginners, so that you can explain them to us. But otherwise AWESOME! BA [Admin] (3 months ago) Hey EMO, I'm assuming you're trying to print a tab in sheet music form. You could just print off the tabs, or... if you must print the sheet music, then you could take a print screen. (If you're on a PC, hold Ctrl and push the prntscrn key, then paste it into an image program like Paint). I will assume this solves all your problems. That'll be 5 dolla. EMO ROCKER [New Recruit] (3 months ago) i need a way to print sheet music! when i do, half the stuff goes off the page. even when i make it smaller and it looks right on print preveiw. i swear im gna explode! how do i learn the music if i cant see it infront of me? ...More Comments...   View all 19 comments   Comment on this article   Your Guest Name:       [Member Login]   Comments:   Unhelpful comments are exterminated.