The Fastest Way to Learn to Read Music (The Guide Note Method)

In this video, I'm going to teach you the fastest way to learn to read music - using The Guide Note Method! This method is a great way to learn to read sheet music quickly.
Many people want to learn how to read music, but find it extremely difficult. But using the Guide Note Method (Sometimes called the Landmark System) you only have to memorise 10 notes!
Being able to recognise notes is the first and most important step to being able to sight read music and play your favourite piano pieces using sheet music.
After watching this video you'll easuly be able to find the notes in the treble clef as well as the notes in the bass clef.
Many beginners on piano struggle with this initial challenge, but if you learn to sight-read notes quickly then it can make your whole piano learning experience a whole lot easier (AND FASTER).
I hope you enjoy it.
Let me know in the comments if it helped.
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🎹 LEARN WITH ME 🎹
P.S at the end of the video I mention a discount for my course "Learn to Read Music Fast - The Easy Way to Sight-Read Musical Notes"
It's also includes lots of sight-reading exercises and note learning games which make the whole note learning process fun and engaging.
You can find out more about the course and get the special KZbin discount here:
courses.birdsp...

[@ginaw8803]

Most comprehensive tutorial on note learning and memorization Ive EVER seen. THANK YOU, ARTHUR!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

You are very welcome. Thank you for the kind words Gina!

[@EasyAsPiePiano]

Wonderful Arthur ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Thank you 👍👍👍👍

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I was making no progress in sightreading, and of course in my piano playing ability. And then I learned this method and started practicing sightreading regularly. Best thing I could have done. And I didn't mind watching this as a review since you mentioned the spacing. Since I started late and I'm a doctor, I can confidently say, kids, eat your vegetables, take this video to heart and practice sightreading every day.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

So pleased you like Lawrence. This video took ages to edit so the fact that it's helping people like yourself makes it worthwhile. And you've hit the nail on the most important point. Regular practice really is the biggest factor in getting better at sight-reading.

[@julianbruce7595]

Im also a physician so I ditto this!

[@galeem713]

Beautifully sounding piano.

[@jhn1987]

Good lesson. The G clef had been engrained in me since an early age but I always had trouble with the F clef. Watching your video helped me realize something I should’ve seen long ago. The lines on the F clef form a G dominant 9 chord while the spaces form an Am7 chord. Now the only thing I need to get better at is rapidly reading notes that are more than 2 ledger lines above the G clef of below the F clef.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Yes those chord shapes can help, nice observation. If you memorise those two C’s, Treble Clef 3rd space up, and Bass Clef 3rd space down (from the Middle), this will give you another couple of anchor/landmark notes to work from which will help with speed.

[@klimm-s8m]

Your method help me a lot thank you so much!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad it helped!

[@marshasmith4300]

GREAT learning technique!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad you think so!

[@miltonsaucedo2223]

Im learning to read sheet music for the first time, I saw another video on the landmark system, but I like that in this system, that you memorize the F note on the G clef, and the G note on the F clef. The other system teaches you to memorize the high G on the G clef, but I think memorizing the F on the G clef makes more sense, because that way ALL the landmarks are on lines, and doesn't interrupt that uniformity by memorizing a high G on the G clef which ends up on a Space. Great lesson!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

It’s the other way around. It’s the G on the G Clef and F on the F clef, but yes both landmarks being on lines helps doesn’t it! I’m pleased its helped you.🙂

[@miltonsaucedo2223]

@@BirdsPianoAcademyyeah, no, i mean at the top of the G clef, where you have the F at the top line. and the bottom of the F clef where you have a G on the bottom line, how you explain to remember them because they are “opposites”, .. but yeah. 👌 👍

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

@@miltonsaucedo2223 Ah apologies I misunderstood your first point. Yes absolutely!

[@SophieKae]

absolutely fantastic Arthur! Thanks loads!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad you liked it!

[@everfooty209]

thanks alot. you opened my 13 year music not blind eye

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

You’re welcome 🙂

[@stuffoflardohfortheloveof]

Well well.....I've played guitar for years but never learnt to read music so I'm only recently starting to bludgeon my way through it. For as long as I can ever remember I've always wondered why 'musicians' go on about the G and F clefs (in regard to where they land on the staffs) and no one has been able to clarify it for me. Your vid was a complete revelation in that it's simply because of where the 'other' four fingers of both hands will fall when starting at middle C. Mind blown! Having always had a guitar in my hand I would never have seen it! Thank you!! 👍

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

I love it when peoples minds get blown!! 😃 I'm pleased it cleared it all up for you!

[@StephenJamesBell]

Well explained. I am always astonished at how this material is usually presented as if there were many types of staff and many clefs, when in point of fact there is but a single staff, consisting of eleven lines, and there are only three clef markers, fixed in place, one located at the lowest F line (fourth line up from the bottom), one at the middle C line (sixth line from either the top or bottom), and one at the top G line ( fourth line down from the top) on that eleven line staff. A given five line staff is nothing more than a subset of five adjacent lines selected from the eleven. The position of the clef marks on the five line staff tells you precisely which five lines you are dealing with - for example the F clef, on the second line down, tells you that you are dealing with lines 1-5 ( from the bottom up) of the eleven (bass clef) whereas if the F clef marker is on the third line down, you are dealing with lines 2-6 of the eleven (the baritone clef), and so on. The grand staff is nothing more than the bottom five lines of the eleven, skipping the 6th line, and then lines 7 thru 11. Write out the full eleven line staff, and memorize the notes at each location - this is not particularly hard: G, B, D, F, A, C, E, G, B, D, F for the lines (proceeding from the bottom line - it's just thirds) and A, C, E, G, B, D, F, A, C, E for the spaces (the same sequence of thirds, but starting a step up on A, the first space at the bottom. Congratulations, with a small/reasonable amount of practice you can now read any staff with any clef you run into - alto clef? - not a problem, you know where you are in the overall system - run into old music where the C clef is on the bottom line? - not a problem, got a piece of music that changes clefs as it goes? - not a problem - learn to read music for a new instrument the music for which is typically in a clef you are not used to? - not a problem - find a really weird old piece of music that has six or seven lines in the staff? - not a problem. Read baroque organ music that moves through different clefs for each hand as the music proceeds? - you can do it. Amaze your friends and neighbors with your freaky sight-reading skills! :-) Just learn the whole eleven line system as one thing - way easier than learning the seemingly unrelated bits and pieces represented by 12+ possible different clefs, each of which is really just a subset of that one underlying system. Remember, the clefs do nothing but tell you which five of the eleven lines you are currently looking at - that is their entire purpose, and it's easy - but learning a different mnemonic for every substring of GBDFACEGBDFACEGBDFACE is just silly, kinda hard, and may not even end up with you understanding that it is just all one thing.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Very well said Stephen, and I totally agree. The mnemonics just muddle it, and are a slow process as well. You certainly know your stuff. Thanks for commenting!

[@littlekyle]

This has been very helpful. Thank you for the clear explanation. I took piano classes 10 years ago but quit after a couple of years. I was frustrated with how long it was taking me to improve. Less than a month ago, I decided to sit down at a keyboard and look up some piano videos on youtube for beginners. This has been a very helpful video because sightreading was my biggest setback all those years ago. I truly appreciate it. ❤ Also, I always heard "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge And Chocolate" for the Treble/G clef and I think it was "Fat Alley Cats Eat Garbage" for the Bass/F clef. That one never stuck the same way as the first... proving that the Bass clef really is the harder one to remember for most people. I always looked at the 2 dots around the F line as a frowny face. It is funny now, but looking back it could have negatively affected my outlook. I guess it is true what they say... when your perspective changes, the things you look at change!!! 🤪

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

I'm so pleased this video has helped you! Ha and I quite like the frown face approach. Whatever helps you to remember :)

[@thomaswilliamhockley]

Soooo comprehensive - best video I've watched on note recognition so far!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Wow, thanks!

[@davidknight95]

gold gold gold

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Thank you 🙌🏻🎹

[@maitree07]

Omg that's wonderful

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

It's such an effective approach isn't it?!

[@galeem713]

My paper is a lot bigger than my paper.

[@gotstachangeman]

Wow!!! You made this so simple to understand. Thank you so much! - Your New Subscriber

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad it helped!

[@galeem713]

I can read the notes for the treble clef . No trouble finding the notes. But I have to write down the notes an the bass clef

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Keep at it 🙌🏻🎹

[@Tender121]

Very good tutorial Arthur! Some comments I haven't seen anywhere else. I think they help to understand the keyboard and connect it to the score. This is very important. Thanks.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@homesolutions544]

Hi thank you so much for that video. Would you mind terribly giving the name of the piece you played at the beginning ?

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Hi, it's an arrangement of the main theme from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky. :)

[@ramonabady5935]

You are a really good instructor!!! ❤your method. I wish you had been around when I first tried to learn music.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Thank you for these kind words! :)

[@johnbell913]

Great explanation. Thank you from California.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

You’re welcome John

[@ultramegaduck]

Brilliant! Thank you from a musical simpleton

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

You are most welcome!

[@Stan_52]

The BEST explanation on how to read music I have seen by far thank you.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

You're welcome Stan I'm glad it helped!

[@gregorioarriada1177]

Great Lesson!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Thanks Gregorio glad you like it!

[@pmstudiosstudios9093]

One of the bestest teacher you are sir.thank you so much ❤

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Thats kind of you to say! 🙂

[@olddognewtricks7599]

Very clear and comprehensive for the beginner

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

I’m pleased you think so!

[@lorsoleather]

That's Amazing. Thanks a lot.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad you like it!

[@birdiewritepa5505]

3:33 Just now I noted the "A-C-E" pattern: A (top ledger line), C (middle ledger line), E (bottom ledger line). 5:50 Guide Notes. Thank you! 😁

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

So pleased it helped!

[@marshasmith4300]

VERY helpful!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Great!

[@jsnssn6301]

Thank you!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

You're welcome!

[@ronniewetherington509]

This is very good information! Thanks for sharing!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@monumathew9259]

God bless you brother ❤️

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

🙌🏻🎹

[@vincentmaloney5835]

I understand all that, but... You didn't even menthion the real names of the keys on the keyboard: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4 etc. One more hint: read the note on the bass clef like if it was on treble cleff and then go two notes up. You can do it pretty fast. Eventually after a lot of practice you'll get used to the bass cleff too. There are many nice iPhone applications that will help you to make progress much faster when reading notes. Make or buy flashcards. Whatever helps.

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Yes I tried to fit in as much information in a short space of time as I could, and the notes aren't commonly referred to as A0 A1 etc hence why it wasn't mentioned. And yes you could use that bass clef approach, there are many. This one is just a different one. You are correct, whichever way helps the most 🙂

[@eddies.1664]

Hi Arthur. Very well explained. Playing the saxaphone and trumpet way back in my school days embedded the G clef staff in my brain. This made it more difficult for me to learn the F clef staff while learning piano years later, especially when playing multiple notes at a time, (unlike the sax and trumpet). I eventually learned it, but it took some time. I wish my piano instructor used your approach instead of the "All Cows Eat Grass" method. Great lesson. Thank you!

[@BirdsPianoAcademy]

Hi Eddie, I only found out about this type of approach years after I started as well. I'm glad you liked it!