Draw five horizontal lines all the way across a blank sheet of paper using a ruler. The lines should be spaced far enough apart for you to add clearly readable musical notes on each line and space. Keep the spaces between the lines consistent.
Draw the clef marker at the far left of the staff you have created. The treble clef, also known as the "G" clef, is the most common clef. Most instruments that play notes above the bass register use the treble clef. It looks similar to an uppercase "G." For bass instruments, use the bass clef, also known as the "F" clef. The "F" clef looks like a backwards "C" with two dots to the right of it. With a "G" clef, the semi-circle at the lower middle of the clef sign should always be circling the second line from the bottom. This designates notes played on that line as "G" notes. The two dots on the bass clef should always be placed one above and one below the fourth line from the bottom, designating notes played on that line as "F" notes.
Draw the key signature to the right of the clef marker. These markers tell the musician which notes should be sharp or flat throughout a piece of music. Sharps are written using a symbol similar to an italic number sign (#) and flats are written using a symbol that looks like a lower case "B".
Draw the time signature to the right of the key signature. Time signatures are written as fractions with one number on top of the other. The top number indicates the number of beats per measure and the bottom number indicates which type of note gets the beat. For example, 4/4 time means there are four beats in a measure and the quarter note gets the beat.