Good Boys Do Fine Always

What you’ll learn

The five lines of the bass staff, from bottom to top, are G, B, D, F and A. The usual way to remember them is “Good Boys Do Fine Always.”

You already know one of them: F, the fourth line, between the clef’s two dots. From F, D is the line below and A is the line above.

If you know the treble lines, be careful. “Every Good Boy Does Fine” shares three words with this one, but on the bass staff G is the bottom line, not the second. A handy check: each bass line is two letters later than the treble line in the same place, so E becomes G, G becomes B, and so on.

How the lesson works

This lesson drills the five line notes only, so you can learn them on their own before they’re mixed with the spaces. Each note needs five right answers to fill its dots, and Lesson 24 unlocks when they’re all full.

For more ways to remember the lines, see bass clef lines.