Printable Music Staff Paper

Print blank music manuscript paper. Single staff, grand staff, guitar tab or staff with tab, at any staff height in millimetres so it prints at true size.


mm

10 systems with a 8 mm staff height. Print at 100 percent for true size.

What staff height means and why it matters

Staff height is the distance from the top line to the bottom line of a five line staff, and it is the one measurement that decides whether music is comfortable to write. Printed music sits around 6 to 7 mm, which is fine for reading but cramped for a pencil. Manuscript paper for writing on is larger: 8 mm is the usual all round choice, 10 to 12 mm suits children and anyone with a heavy hand, and beyond that you are into paper for very young beginners. On A4 an 8 mm staff gives 11 systems to a page, while 12 mm gives 7.

Which paper for which instrument

A single staff suits anything that plays one line at a time: voice, flute, trumpet, violin. A grand staff joins two staves with a brace and is what piano, harp and organ need, because the two hands are written separately. Guitar tab replaces pitch with six lines standing for the six strings, with fret numbers written on them, so the string spacing here is wider than staff spacing to leave room for those numbers. Staff and tab pairs the two, which is how guitar music is normally published: the notation carries the rhythm, the tab carries the fingering.

Why there is no clef printed

Manuscript paper is blank by convention. The clef, key signature and time signature all belong to the piece rather than to the paper, so pre-printing a treble clef would make the sheet useless for anything in bass clef, and pre-printing a key signature would make it useless for everything else. Writing your own clef at the start of each system is part of the job, and it is also how you learn where the clef actually sits on the staff. If you want a reminder, the treble clef curls around the second line from the bottom and the bass clef puts its two dots either side of the second line from the top.

Printing at true size

The sheet is drawn in millimetres and printed as vector artwork, so a staff set to 8 mm measures 8 mm on paper as long as you print at 100 percent. In the print dialog turn off fit to page or shrink oversized pages, since both quietly scale the sheet down and change the staff height you asked for. This matters more than it does on lined paper: musicians pick a staff size to match their handwriting, and a sheet that has been silently reduced by four percent will feel wrong without it being obvious why.

Worth knowing

  • Print at 100 percent, not fit to page, or the staff will not be the height you set.
  • Pre-drawn bar lines help with rhythm exercises but get in the way of free composition.
  • Leave the title and composer lines on for finished work and off when you just need staves.
  • Landscape fits fewer systems but makes each one longer, which suits long phrases.
  • Nothing is stored. The sheet is drawn on our server and discarded as soon as it is sent.

Frequently Asked Questions

For writing by hand, a staff height of about 8 mm suits most people, which gives 11 systems on an A4 page. Children and anyone with larger handwriting are better at 10 to 12 mm. Published music is printed smaller, around 6 to 7 mm, because it only has to be read rather than written on.

Two staves joined by a brace at the left and played together, normally treble above and bass below. Piano, harp and organ music uses it because each hand gets its own staff. On this paper the bar lines run through both staves of the pair, which is what keeps the two hands lined up in the same measure.

Because the clef belongs to the piece, not the paper. Printing a treble clef would make the sheet useless for bass clef instruments, and the same goes for key and time signatures. Manuscript paper has been sold blank for this reason for as long as it has existed, and writing the clef yourself is part of learning where it sits.

It depends on the staff height. On A4 portrait without a title block, an 8 mm staff gives 11 single systems or 5 grand staff systems; 10 mm gives 9 and 4; 12 mm gives 7 and 3. The exact count for your settings appears under the options every time you change something.

Standard notation writes pitch on five lines and leaves fingering to the player. Guitar tab uses six lines for the six strings and writes a fret number on the string you press, so it tells you exactly where to put your fingers but nothing about rhythm. That is why published guitar music usually prints both together, which is the staff and tab option here.

Only when you already know the metre. Pre-drawn bars are useful for rhythm exercises and for copying out a piece you are learning, because the measures are evenly spaced before you start. For composing they are a hindrance, since real measures need different amounts of room depending on how many notes are in them.

Yes. A single staff works for any instrument that plays one line at a time, whatever its clef, since no clef is printed. Bass guitar players often use the tab option and simply ignore the two lowest lines, and percussion parts are usually written on a single staff too.

Whichever is in your printer. A4 is 210 by 297 mm and standard nearly everywhere outside North America. Letter is 8.5 by 11 inches, slightly wider and shorter, so it fits one fewer system down the page at most staff sizes. The staves are drawn to the same measured height either way.

How do you print blank music staff paper?

Choose a staff type and print at 100 percent scale. This tool draws single staff, grand staff, guitar tab and staff with tab at any staff height from 5 to 20 mm, on A4 or Letter, with optional bar lines and title lines. Everything is measured in millimetres so it prints at true size.