Why are notes on the Base vs Treble clef placed differently

Question

I've never been able to understand why notes on a bass clef are placed differently than notes on a treble clef. For instance, in a treble clef, C is below the second line from the top, in bass clef it's placed below the third line from the top. How confusing!!! Why is this?

Answer 1

Actually, this is much LESS confusing than what it used to be... in medieval music it used to be 11 lines crushed together!  

If you read the lines on treble clef, it is EGBDF.

The lines on the bass clef are GBDFA.

Now, if you go down below the treble clef, the note just below the "E" line is a "D"... then the next note down, on the fist ledger line, would be a "C" (this is middle C on the piano).

So then, in the bass cleff, the note that sits in the space on top of the staff is a "B"... go to the next note up on the ledger line, and you have "C" (this is middle C on the piano).

These two "C"s are the same- they are both middle C!  So if you start on the bottom line of the bass clef and count up... GBDFA... then add a ledger line... C... then count the treble lines... EGBDF.... you get

GaBcDeFgAb C dEfGaBcDeFg...

So I hope it makes sense now! :)

EDIT: The reason you generally only learn one clef or the other (unless you play piano) is because there aren't many instruments that have that large of a range.  Clarinet, for example, can play down below treble clef by 1 octave.  There is the bottom line "E", but then you add 3 ledger lines and place the note below that for the next "E" down... this is really the "E" on the 3rd space bass clef- but why learn a new clef when all you have to do is write in a few ledger lines?  And then it can play 2.5 octaves ABOVE the treble clef... why make it more confusing?!

Answer 2

Believe me, it's so much easier than you think. Take the Treble Clef for example. Now play as low as you can on any instrument. That note is also written in bass clef. It's just the treble clef and the bass clef right under it so you don't have to read/write ledger lines. Then there's Alto and Tenor Clefs, but I won't go into that. I had to learn them all because I play bassoon. Not a fun month. So anyway, if you're trying to learn bass clef or need help with it, just remember that the note written in treble clef is two LETTERS lower than the note in bass clef. Like middle C in treble clef is middle E in bass clef. 2 up for bass clef if you're reading treble clef, 2 down for treble clef if you're reading bass clef.

Answer 3

So that you're not reading into huge amounts of leger lines. There are many other clefs (alto, tenor) to prevent this for other instruments too, such as the viola.