Staff Paper: Printable Blank Sheet Music
Classfern’s free staff paper maker prints blank sheet music in your browser: treble, bass or grand staffs, guitar tab or percussion, on US Letter or A4, with 6 to 14 staves per page in four sizes. Press Print, or save it as a PDF. A simple note writer below lets you write a tune on the staff and hear it.
Updated · By the Classfern Music Department
Works in the UK and the US. This version uses US music words (measure, half step, quarter note, staff); the UK version uses bar, semitone, crotchet and stave. · UK version of this page
Key facts
- Staff paper (also called blank sheet music or music paper) is paper printed with empty staves for writing music.
- A staff has 5 lines and 4 spaces; guitar tab has 6 lines, one per string.
- Piano music uses the grand staff: treble and bass clef joined by a brace.
- Classfern’s maker prints A4 or US Letter with 6 to 14 staves per page, in four sizes.
- Sizes are the height of one staff from bottom line to top line: 6, 7.5, 9 or 12 mm.
- Free, no sign-up; print it or save it as a PDF from the print window.
Printable staff paper maker
Choose the paper, the kind of staff and how many per page. The preview changes as you go; press Print and choose your printer, or “Save as PDF” to keep a file.
The page is drawn in your browser and printed from it. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
How do I print blank sheet music?
To print blank sheet music, choose the paper size, the kind of staff and how many staves you want in the maker above, then press “Print or save as PDF”. In the print window pick your printer, or choose “Save as PDF” to keep a file you can print again later.
For the neatest result, set the print scale to 100% (or “Actual size”) and turn off headers and footers in the print window. If your printer cuts off the edges, choose the Small size or fewer staves per page. Children starting to write music find the extra-large staff with 6 per page easiest.
What kinds of staff paper are there?
The main kinds of staff paper are single staves with a treble or bass clef (for melodies and single instruments), grand staves for piano, blank five-line staves with no clef, six-line guitar tab, and percussion staves with a neutral clef. You can also add bar lines to help young writers.
| Kind | Best for |
|---|---|
| Treble clef | Melodies, songs, recorder, flute, violin, right-hand piano |
| Bass clef | Left-hand piano, cello, bassoon, trombone, bass guitar |
| Grand staff | Piano and keyboard music, both hands |
| Five lines, no clef | Theory exercises and writing your own clefs |
| Guitar tab | Guitar music written as string and fret numbers |
| Percussion | Drum kit and untuned percussion rhythms |
| With bar lines | Young children and dictation, so each measure has its own box |
Simple note writer
Write a short tune on the staff: choose a note length, then press note names. Each note sounds as you add it, and Play plays the tune at 90 beats a minute. It is drawn with the same staff as Classfern’s reading course.
No notes yet. Choose a length, then press a note.
Self-assessed Play it back: does it sound like the tune in your head? Count the beats shown under the staff: 4 quarter-note beats fill one measure of 4/4.
Sounds are made in your browser. This tool never uses the microphone, and nothing is recorded, saved or sent.
How do you write notes on a staff?
To write notes on a staff, draw the clef first, then the time signature, then each note as an oval head on a line or in a space: higher notes sit higher on the staff. Add a stem for notes shorter than a whole note, and draw a bar line each time the beats add up to the time signature.
- Clef. Treble clef for high notes, bass clef for low notes.
- Time signature. 4/4 means four quarter-note beats in each measure.
- Note heads. On the treble staff, the lines are E G B D F and the spaces F A C E (see our piano notes chart).
- Stems. Notes below the middle line have stems going up on the right; notes on or above it, stems going down on the left.
- Bar lines. Count the beats and draw a line across the staff when they add up.
| Note | Beats | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | Open oval, no stem |
| Half note | 2 | Open oval with a stem |
| Quarter note | 1 | Filled oval with a stem |
| Eighth note | ½ | Filled oval, stem and one flag (or a beam) |
Is there a free alternative to music notation software?
Yes. For writing notes by hand, printable staff paper is free and quick. For writing on screen, free options include MuseScore (free, open-source desktop software), the free basic plan of Noteflight (in the browser) and Classfern’s simple note writer above. GarageBand is mainly a recording app, with a basic score view for software instruments on a Mac.
| Tool | Runs on | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Printable staff paper (this page) | Paper | Sketching ideas, theory homework, dictation |
| Classfern note writer (this page) | Any web browser | A few measures of melody, with sound, for beginners |
| MuseScore | Windows, Mac, Linux (download) | Full scores with many parts, printing and playback |
| Noteflight (free basic plan) | Web browser (account needed) | Writing scores online and sharing them |
| GarageBand | Mac, iPhone, iPad | Recording and loops more than notation |
Classfern is not connected with or endorsed by MuseScore, Noteflight, Apple or GarageBand; product names are used only to compare. For a guided path into composing, use write your own music, or make a tune first in the song maker.
What size staff paper is best for children?
Young children (about ages 5 to 7) write most easily on large staves, about 12 mm from bottom line to top line, with 6 per page and bar lines drawn in. From about age 8, a 9 mm staff with 8 to 10 per page works well; older pupils and adults usually use 7.5 mm or smaller.
Classfern’s free staff paper maker and note writer are part of the Classfern Music Department at lessonplanner.info. Teachers can print a class set in a minute, with the same layout every time.
Quiz: the staff and note lengths
Marked by Classfern 4 multiple-choice questions on the Classfern lesson engine. Your answers stay on this device.
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