This first thing to do when learning to read standard notation is to get familiar with the different notes and rests.

• See the fancy G-looking thing in front of each line. This represents the Treble Clef or the G clef. It’s the clef guitar music is written in.
• Notice the 4’s one on top of each other. It’s the Time Signature. These numbers are not always 4’s. The top number tells you how many beats there are per measure.
• A measure is the space between bar lines (the vertical lines in the music).
• The bottom number tells you which note receives 1 beat. When it is 4 the quarter note gets 1 beat. When the number is 8, the eighth note gets 1 beat. When the number is 2, the half note gets 1 beat, and so on.
• Most of the time in guitar music you will use the stacked 4’s which is called Common Time. Sometimes it is signified by a “C” put in place of the numbers.
• Other times you will see a “C” with a vertical line through it. This is called Cut Time. It is the equivalent of stacked 2’s.

Sometimes you’ll see a sharp or a flat in the times signature. It tells you what key the music is in and what is flattened or sharpened. For example, the Key of  “F” has one flat. The flat is on the B line. Therefore, every “B” that you come across must be played as a B flat, unless it is acted on by an accidental (We will see more about Key and accidental in a latter lesson).

The Staff Notes

Notes that are placed on the lines of the staff: EGBDF

A trick to remember the notes is the sentance, “Every Good Boy Deservs Fudge”.

Notes placed in the spaces: FACE

Note Duration & Rests

Notes:

1 or Whole Note or Semibreve: Represents a whole beat. A whole note is the base to which other fractional notes are related. Look at fig. 1,  there is a 4/4 on the staff. This indicates that in 4/4 time. or 4 beats per whole note.

1/2 Half Notes or Minim: Represents half the duration of a whole note. which is two beats.

1/4 Quarter Notes or Crochets: Represents 1/4 of the duration of a whole note. In 4/4 time quarter meats get 1 beat.

1/8 Eighth Note or Quaver: are one Eighth of a whole beat, they are worth half a beat.

1/16 Sixteenth Note or Semiquaver: Represents 1/16 of a whole note. As you guessed they are worth a quarter of a beat.

Rests: are pauses or silence when you don’t play anything.

Rest 1 beat

half Rest 1/2  beat

Quarter Rest 1/4 beat

Eighth Rest 1/8 beat

When skimming over partitions for the first time look for tempo markings such as:

• “lento,” “largo” and “grave” which indicate a very slow tempo between 40 and 60 beats per minute.
• “adagio,” “adagietto” and “andante” are for moderately slow tempo that falls between 60 to 100 beats per minute.
• “moderato,” “allegretto,” “allegro moderato” and “allegro” are used to indicate lively tempo ranging from 110 to 168 beats per minute.
• “vivace,” “presto” and “prestissimo” are very quick tempo that can be as quick as 200 beats per minute.

If there are some parts that don’t seem clear to you leave a comment, we’ll be happy to help you out. Good luck and keep practicing.