Music notation glossary · Clefs
Octave clef
an octave lower than written
In the score
What it means
A small 8 below the treble clef means: sounds an octave lower. Tenor voices and guitar are written this way; otherwise they would need ledger lines throughout.
Octave signs
The last case works the other way round. The little eight under the treble clef holds not for a stretch but for the whole piece, and it stands on almost every sheet of guitar music: what is written there sounds an octave lower. Both pictures here sound the same — the music on the right simply sits an octave higher on the paper, because the clef brings it back down.
Related pages
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See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.