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 (24):
BA [Admin] (23 days ago) @Nawk: There is no difference between piano and trumpet sheet music, other than the key (or pitch) the song is written in. @Socrates: All the tabs are viewable as sheet music. Nawk [Guest] (24 days ago) Hey I played trumpet from 5-8grade so I know the basics as I still play in my spare time, I have a keyboard and I'm trying to learn the difference between piano and trumpet sheet music, but I can't find anything helpful. Any tips? Socrates [New Recruit] (2 months ago) What I am looking for is sheet music I can download from the internet. I can't see that this tabbing is going to help me. Socrates ia_egroj [New Recruit] (3 months ago) hi,   it's so sad that i don't have any idea about piano chords..   i'm eager to know it.. i hope that there would be somebody , will send me the flute chords for REASON by Jong II YOung, a song from Endless Love, Korean Drama.. hoperful,        ia_egroj newbie [Guest] (3 months ago) grrr.... i wanna know how to play so sick (female version) just the basic.. but i really can't get it, so hard, i don't understand.. i'm not that slow but i just can't figure it out how that goes.. can somebody help me please abby123 [Guest] (4 months ago) i dont get it i want 2 no how 2 read notes when u play the black keys. and sharp, flat IM JUST A BEGINNER! i really wanna play eye of the tiger (survivor) and telefone (ladygaga) even if they're hard i dont wanna any chords just basic notes and no site can give me that and since they're either sheet music tht makes no sense like this site or only tell me the chrous (which i no by <3) i cant learn something so basic!!!! yui [Guest] (4 months ago) thank a lot Shaynndnewbie [Guest] (4 months ago) thanks a million Tinypianonewbie [Guest] (4 months ago) thanks now i dont need my brother to help me Loraine [Guest] (6 months ago) Great Site, looking forward now, in getting to grips with my keyboard :) ...More Comments...   View all 24 comments   Comment on this article   Your Guest Name:       [Member Login]   Comments:   Unhelpful comments are exterminated.