Familiarize yourself with the music staff. A music staff consists of five lines and four spaces that represent note names. Lines placed above or below this basic staff are called ledger lines. These lines are used to indicate higher or lower versions of the notes on the basic staff. The five lines of the staff on the treble clef are E-G-B-D-F and the spaces are F-A-C-E. The lines and spaces on the bass clef are G-B-D-F-A and the spaces are A-C-E-G. The easiest way for beginners to remember these lines and spaces is by assigning a word or phrase to them to help. For the lines on the treble clef, Every Good Boy Does Fine can be helpful. The spaces spell the word "face." For the bass clef lines, try Grizzly Bears Don't Fly Airplanes. For the spaces, All Cars Eat Gas.
Learn to recognize the ledger lines on the staff. The last line on the basic staff is F. The space above that line will be a G. One ledger line above the staff is an A. This means ledger lines placed above the staff follow the musical alphabet going forward. Ledger lines below the staff follow the musical alphabet going backward. The same notes that are on the basic staff simply repeat over and over.
Recognize basic music note elements and practice counting them. Music is broken into bars (measures) made up of a combination of note values. These note values include whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. In common-time music, a whole note is held out through an entire bar of music (four beats or counts). A whole note is a small uncolored circle. A half note is half the length of a whole note. A half note lasts for two counts. It looks like a whole note except it has a stem attached to it. The quarter note is one beat. It looks like a half note except the note head is colored black. An eighth note is a half beat and looks like a quarter note with a small tail attached to the stem. Notes placed on the third line or higher have the stem on the left side, pointing down. All other notes appear with the stem on the right, pointing up.
Find a chart of this basic notation and keep it handy as you memorize the note names and values. These are the basics of reading and writing music. You can learn music theory later on, if you desire, but memorizing these basics will allow you to understand written music and even write simple melodies.