Treble clef with 8 below (octave down)
A treble clef with 8 below normally means that the music sounds one octave lower than written. It is common in tenor-voice and guitar notation, but established instrument transposition can make the small 8 partly confirmatory.
- Clefs
- At the start of the staff
- A curve or arc, Numbers
Do not confuse it with
An 8 above the same clef raises the sounding octave instead of lowering it.
What the sources say
- Reading Clefs
An octave treble clef with an ‘8’ at the bottom of the clef indicates that notes should be sung or played an octave lower than written.
- Music Glossary — G clef
8 below the clef symbol indicates playing or singing an octave lower
- SMuFL — Clefs
gClef8vb — G clef ottava bassa