- 1). Look at the time signature which you can find right after the bass clef of the staff, just look for the two numbers on top of one another. The bottom number will tell you the type of notes found in the measure (half, quarter, eighth notes, etc.), while the top number will tell you how many of those notes are found in each bar. 4/4 time means that each bar has 4 quarter notes in each bar, while 4/8 means that each bar has 4 eighth notes.
- 2). Find out which line the note lies on. This will tell you which note to play. The bass staff has its notes in different places than the treble staff, so it may take some adjustment. The black lines on the staff, from bottom to top, go: G, B, D, F, A. This makes the spaces in between each line, from bottom to top, go: A, C, E, G. If the note lies on in between the top 2 strings, it would be a G note.
- 3). Find out how long you play the note. If you see an empty circle, you're looking at a whole note. Half notes look like whole notes with a vertical line. Quarter notes look like half notes, except with a filled-in circle instead of an empty one. Eighth notes look like quarter notes with a flag on the end of its line, while sixteenth notes have two flags. In 4/4 time, whole notes are worth 4 beats, half notes are worth 2 beats, quarter notes are worth 1, and it keeps on getting cut in half. The smaller the beat, the faster you play.
- 4). Read all the notes and play them back slowly. It can get easier to learn if you play the notes slower to start. After you learn the notes, you can conveniently speed it back up as you get better.
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