Bass clef
The bass clef, or F clef, starts on the fourth line of the staff, with its two dots either side of that line, and makes it the F below middle C. Lower instruments and voices, and a pianist’s left hand, read music written with it.
How to read it
With the bass clef, the fourth line from the bottom is the first F below middle C and the top line the first A below it. The staff it marks is called the bass staff. The shape is an altered letter F, as the treble clef is a G.
Also searched as: F clef.
Where you’ll see it
Richardson’s Elements of Music (1893) lists baritone and bass voices, the cello, bassoon, G trombone and timpani, the left hand of piano and organ music, and the organ’s pedal part.
Other positions
In some older music the F clef sits on the third line instead; Stainer and Barrett’s dictionary (1898) calls it the baritone clef in that position.
Read next
- Next in Music symbolsAlto clefThe alto clef is a C clef centred on the middle line of the staff, which it makes middle C. Viola music is written in it.
- The same shape in Accessibility symbolsAssistive listening symbol (ear)An ear with a diagonal bar across it is the International Symbol of Access for Hearing Loss. It marks an assistive listening system: a loop, infrared or FM system that sends sound to hearing aids or headsets.
More music symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with curves and waves or lines.
Sources
- Music Notation and Terminology, Karl W. Gehrkens, 1914, A. S. Barnes Company (Project Gutenberg), Chapter II, §15–16
- Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom: Notation, Robert Hutchinson, section 1.2, University of Puget Sound, Section 1.2
- Primer of Facts about Music, M. G. Evans, 1909, Theodore Presser Co. (Internet Archive, University of Toronto), Q. 22
- Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms, John Stainer and W. A. Barrett, new and revised edition, 1898, Novello (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Clef
- Elements of Music, Harmony, and Musical Form, M. I. Richardson, 1893, Rivington, Percival & Co. (Internet Archive, University of Illinois), Part I, Chapter I, §16
- SMuFL: Clefs, Standard Music Font Layout, glyph table U+E050–U+E07F, W3C Music Notation Community Group, U+E062
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 26, 2026. How we research
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