Printable Blank Sheet Music and Tab
Every music lesson needs staff paper: for students to copy exercises, for composers to jot down an idea, for teachers to prepare a dictation. Here you choose the template, the clef, the staff size and how many staves fit on the page, instead of hunting for a ready-made PDF that almost works.
How to use it
- Choose the template: single staff, piano, SATB choir, 4- to 7-string tab, cavaquinho, ukulele, staff + tab or chord diagrams.
- For a single staff, choose the clef (treble, bass, C) or leave it without a clef.
- Set the staff size and how many staves go on each page. On automatic the spacing is comfortable; fewer staves leave more room between them.
- If you want, add bar lines, a title and a line for name and date.
- Tap Download PDF or Print. In the print dialog, keep the scale at 100% (actual size).
Help and explanations
The PDF is built in your browser as vector graphics: the lines come out crisp on any printer, with no watermark (just a small lalatone.com in the footer), no sign-up and nothing sent to a server.
Which staff size to choose
The size is the height of the staff, from the first to the fifth line. Medium (7.6 mm, about 0.3 in) is the size used in printed music and standard manuscript books, and fits 12 staves on an A4 page. Small (6.4 mm) fits more staves per page. Large (9.2 mm) and extra large (12 mm) are for children, for beginners learning to draw notes and for anyone who has trouble seeing small print.
Staff, tab or chord diagram?
Standard notation records pitch and rhythm and works for any instrument. Tab shows string and fret: it is the quickest way to write down a guitar, bass or ukulele riff, with the 1st string (the highest) on the top line. Staff + tab combines both, as in guitar method books, and chord diagrams are for writing down shapes and inversions.
In SATB choir, soprano and alto go on the treble clef, the tenor on the treble clef with an 8 below (it sounds an octave lower) and the bass on the bass clef. Once you have written something down, you can practice with note reading practice and the music theory quiz.
Tips
- Print at 100% or "Actual size": "Fit to page" shrinks the staff.
- Letter is the standard paper size in the US, Canada and Mexico, and the tool picks it automatically there; most other countries use A4.
- For tests and dictations, turn on the name and date line and choose several pages at once.
- Tab string names can be shown as letters (E A D G B E) or in Do Re Mi.
Frequently asked questions
How many lines does a music staff have?
Five lines and four spaces, counted from bottom to top. Notes outside the staff use ledger lines, short dashes above or below it.
How many lines does guitar tab have?
Six, one per string: the 1st string (high E) at the top and the 6th (low E) at the bottom. Bass tab has four or five, ukulele and cavaquinho tab have four and 7-string guitar tab has seven.
How do I print staff paper at the right size?
Choose A4 or Letter, download the PDF and print with the scale at 100%. With "Fit to page" the staff comes out smaller.
Is there piano staff paper with treble and bass clef together?
Yes: the Piano template has a grand staff, with both staves joined by the brace and the bar line at the start of each system, as written for piano, keyboard and organ.
Does the PDF have a watermark or cost anything?
No. It is free and needs no sign-up, with just a discreet lalatone.com in the footer. Print as many copies as you like for yourself, your class or your choir.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The PDF is created on the device itself and goes to your downloads, where you can print or share it.
What is the difference between treble, bass and C clef?
The clef tells you which note sits on which line. Treble clef marks G on the 2nd line (higher instruments and voices), bass clef marks F on the 4th line (low ones: bass, cello, the piano's left hand) and the C clef on the 3rd line, the alto clef, is the one the viola reads.