page_title: Clef
section_title: Tablature
hierarchical_section_title: Clef / Other clefs / Tablature
caption_attribution_description: English: Diatonic scale on C, guitar tablature clef.
context_page_description: A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on a stave, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on one of the lines. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the stave may be determined.
  There are three forms of clef used in modern music notation: F, C, and G. Each form assigns its reference note to a line depending on its placement on the stave.
  Once one of these clefs has been placed on one of the lines of the stave, the other lines and spaces are read in relation to it.
  The use of different clefs makes it possible to write music for all instruments and voices, regardless of differences in tessitura. Because the modern stave has only five lines, it is not possible to represent all pitches playable by the orchestra with only one clef, even with the use of ledger lines. The use of different clefs for various instruments and voices allows each part to be written comfortably on the stave with a minimum of ledger lines.
context_section_description: For guitars and other fretted instruments, it is possible to notate tablature in place of ordinary notes. In this case, a TAB-sign is often written instead of a clef. The number of lines of the stave is not necessarily five: one line is used for each string of the instrument (so, for standard six-stringed guitars, six lines would be used, four lines for the traditional bass guitar). Numbers on the lines show on which fret the string should be played. This Tab-sign, like the Percussion clef, is not a clef in the true sense, but rather a symbol employed instead of a clef.
caption: Diatonic scale on C, guitar tablature and stave notation (suboctave is assumed). About this soundPlay (help·info)
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