# Music Staff Paper **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062 "2012-09-08T01:57:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/1 "2012-09-08T01:57:53Z")
12-stave music paper is easily attainable, but I’d like double-sided 12-stave paper with the treble and bass signs, and also preferably the bar lines, already printed (instead of the blank staves that leave it to the composer to write them in). Is there anything available in paper form or at least online printable form? Also, does anyone know of somewhere online to get ink stamps for treble and bass signs and chord diagrams? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/2 "2012-09-08T02:00:30Z")
I don’t think any would be available with preprinted bar lines. Why would you desire them? ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/3 "2012-09-08T02:08:31Z")
One thing you could do is to take a sheet of the existing paper, then put in the treble and bass clefs, and whatever other markings you want, and make a lot of photocopies. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/4 "2012-09-08T02:17:27Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I don’t think any would be available with preprinted bar lines. Why would you desire them? Because I’m not great at drafting or drawing evenly spaced straight lines and I anticipate using mostly 16 bars per page so paper preprinted that way would save time. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/5 "2012-09-08T02:20:54Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > One thing you could do is to take a sheet of the existing paper, then put in the treble and bass clefs, and whatever other markings you want, and make a lot of photocopies. That’s my default strategy, but photocopying is time-consuming and expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/6 "2012-09-08T02:29:05Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Because I’m not great at drafting or drawing evenly spaced straight lines and I anticipate using mostly 16 bars per page so paper preprinted that way would save time. What if in one bar you need to notate split 64ths in triplets? 😉 (That’s actually a serious question, w/o the snarkiness.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/7 "2012-09-08T04:15:18Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > > [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > > > One thing you could do is to take a sheet of the existing paper, then put in the treble and bass clefs, and whatever other markings you want, and make a lot of photocopies. > > That’s my default strategy, but photocopying is time-consuming and expensive. Why not prepare the sheet as **FatBaldGuy** suggests, but scan it in, and then just print on your home printer as needed? ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/8 "2012-09-08T04:20:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why not prepare the sheet as **FatBaldGuy** suggests, but scan it in, and then just print on your home printer as needed? That’s my default if there’s nothing available in preprinted format as described above. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/9 "2012-09-08T04:54:23Z")
Does this fail to provide the options you want? > **[Free printable staff paper @ Blank Sheet Music .net](https://www.blanksheetmusic.net/)** > > Print blank sheet music for free, guitar and bass tabs too, ready-to-print music staff paper ETA: Selecting the Advanced tab, I was able to select two staves, (providing joined treble and bass staves), “drag and drop” the clefs onto the appropriate staves, and insert multiple bars onto each “line.” Selecting the Key - Time tab, I was able to drop in time signatures and keys. (I was not able to “change” keys from bar to bar, but how often do you want to do that?) It also allows you to select the number of staves per page and either a portrait ot landscae orientation. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/10 "2012-09-08T12:18:47Z")
_Everything_ you request – music paper with bar lines, stamps, and much more – is available thru these sources in Hollywood, CA. I’m surprised to see they are still in business; I used to patronize them in the 1970’s. > **[Judy Green Music - Home](https://www.jgmpaper.com/)** [http://www.vallemusic.com/](http://www.vallemusic.com/) > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I don’t think any would be available with preprinted bar lines. Why would you desire them? Saves time. > [@](#): > > What if in one bar you need to notate split 64ths in triplets? Too rare to worry about. Then you switch to some other paper. > [@GreenElf](#): > > That’s my default strategy, but photocopying is time-consuming and expensive. How much does it cost to print a single page in your printer? One advantage the pre-printed stuff has over common printer paper is it will be on stiffer stock, and will stand up on a music stand or piano. But you gotta pay for your thrills. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/11 "2012-09-08T14:21:25Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > One advantage the pre-printed stuff has over common printer paper is it will be on stiffer stock, and will stand up on a music stand or piano. But you gotta pay for your thrills. I _tink_ you mean you have to pay for your _trills_. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/12 "2012-09-08T15:51:19Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > I _tink_ you mean you have to pay for your _trills_. I coda seen that joke coming, if I’d been paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/13 "2012-09-08T16:26:27Z")
Better make a note of it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/14 "2012-09-08T18:27:05Z")
Moved to Cafe Society from GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/15 "2012-09-08T21:17:41Z")
I’ve made my own staff/tab page layouts in Excel (essentially just by using cell borders), you can pretty much create any configuration you might want by adjusting the row heights, header/footer/margin widths, etc, including bar lines (left/right borders)…I’ve never done it but it might be possible to insert clefs as well. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-staff-paper/634062/16 "2012-09-08T22:27:16Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > I’ve made my own staff/tab page layouts in Excel (essentially just by using cell borders), you can pretty much create any configuration you might want by adjusting the row heights, header/footer/margin widths, etc, including bar lines (left/right borders)…I’ve never done it but it might be possible to insert clefs as well. Now that’s something I’d never have thought of using a spreadsheet for. I made custom staff paper (13x19" large orchestra layouts, 4 bars to the page, 15 instrument lines) in Corel Draw, but that was 25 years ago. It was a lot of work. The output went to an offset press.