Blank sheet music
Print at 100%. In the print dialog choose Actual size (or Scale: 100), not Fit to page. Then hold a ruler to the line at the bottom of the sheet.
How to print at actual size, dialog by dialog
- Chrome and Edge: open More settings, find Scale, and pick Actual size if it is listed. If it is not, pick Custom and type 100. Avoid Fit to printable area and Fit to paper.
- Firefox: untick Fit to page width, then set Scale to 100.
- Safari and Preview on a Mac: set Scale to 100%, not Scale to Fit.
- Adobe Acrobat and Reader: under Page Sizing, choose Actual size. The file already asks for it.
- iPhone and iPad: the print sheet has no scale setting. Print, then measure the line.
- Android: this depends on the printer app. Turn off any Fit to page option, then measure the line.
- Any browser: pick the file that matches the paper in your printer. A US Letter file on A4 paper, or the reverse, gets shrunk to fit.
Blank sheet music is a page of empty staves, five lines each, ready for notes. This page starts from 12 staves, the usual layout, on US Letter or A4. Change the number of staves or their size above and the preview follows; the PDF you download is drawn at exactly that size.
On US Letter the five lines of each staff are 1/10 inch apart, so a staff is 0.4 inch tall, with about 0.43 in of space between staves at a half inch margin. On A4 the lines are 2.5 mm apart, a staff 10 mm tall, and about 13 mm between staves at a 12 mm margin. The space between staves never drops below the height of a staff, so ledger lines and notes above or below the staff have room.
A blank music sheet, set up your way
Blank sheet music, blank music paper and empty sheet music all name the same page, and it is the same page as staff paper: the staves with nothing written on them. What changes from one use to another is the layout.
- Fewer, larger staves (6 to 8, with wider line spacing) are easier to read and to write in by hand, and leave room for lyrics or fingering under each staff.
- The usual 12 staves suit most handwritten parts and exercises.
- More, smaller staves (14 to 16 at narrow spacing) fit a longer melody or sketch on one page.
Each staff is closed by a short line at either end, and the staves are spread from the top margin to the bottom margin so the space between them is even. There is no clef, key or time signature, so the same sheet serves any instrument or voice.
Print it at 100%, not fit to page
Print dialogs shrink pages a little so nothing is cut off. That shrinks every staff on the blank sheet music too, and a part printed at a different scale from the rest of a score will not match it.
So when you print, choose Actual size, or set Scale to 100. The file asks viewers not to scale it, and Adobe Acrobat and Reader follow that request. Chrome's built-in PDF viewer, which opens most downloads, does not, so in Chrome or Edge open More settings and set Scale to Actual size, or to Custom and 100 if Actual size is not listed. The steps for other browsers and phones are in the list under the download buttons.
Print the Letter file on Letter paper and the A4 file on A4, or the page is shrunk to fit even at 100%.
Check your print with the calibration line
The line at the bottom of every sheet is exactly 4 inches long on inch sheets and exactly 10 cm long on metric sheets. Lay a ruler along it with zero at the left end; the small ticks mark every half inch or every centimeter.
| The 4 in line measures | The 10 cm line measures | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 4 in, within about 1/32 in | 100 mm, within about 0.5 mm | Printed at actual size. |
| about 3 7/8 in (3.89 in) | about 97.3 mm | A US Letter file was shrunk to fit A4 paper. |
| about 3 3/4 in (3.76 in) | about 94.1 mm | An A4 file was shrunk to fit US Letter paper. |
| about 3.8 to 3.9 in | about 95 to 97 mm | Fit to printable area or Fit to page was on. |
| about 4 1/16 to 4 1/8 in | about 102 to 103 mm | Borderless printing enlarged the page. |
A short line means every staff is short by the same ratio: at 3.89 inches a 0.4 inch staff came out about 0.389 inch tall.
Printable blank sheet music: PDF or PNG
The blank sheet music PDF is the file to print: it is vector, it carries the page size and it asks the viewer not to scale. The PNG is the same page at 300 pixels per inch, for writing music on a tablet in a note app. Image viewers often fit pictures to the paper, so print from the PDF. Ready-made 12-stave PDFs for Letter and A4 are under the download buttons.
What this page does not do
It does not upload anything, and there is no account. It is not a notation editor: it does not play, transpose or engrave notes, and the staves are empty. It cannot see your printer, which is why the calibration line is there. The preview is a picture of the sheet, not the sheet at actual size.
Frequently asked questions
Is blank sheet music the same as staff paper?
Yes. Blank sheet music, staff paper, music staff paper and manuscript paper all mean pages of empty staves. This page and the staff paper page draw the same sheet; this one names its files blank sheet music.
Where can I get a blank sheet music PDF?
Under the download buttons: a ready-made 12-stave PDF for US Letter and one for A4, free. For another layout, set the staves and spacing above and download the PDF the generator makes.
How many staves should blank sheet music have?
Twelve is the usual number. Choose fewer for larger staves, which are easier for beginners and for writing at speed, or up to 16 for more music on a page.
Can I add a treble or bass clef?
The staves print without a clef, so one sheet works for any instrument. Write the clef at the start of each staff by hand.
Is this blank sheet music free to print?
Yes: it is free blank sheet music, and there is no account. The sheet is drawn by code running in your browser, and the only thing sent anywhere is an anonymous count of page views and downloads, described on the privacy page.