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The notes are specified by the letters a through g. The octave is formed with notes ranging from c to b. The pitch c is an octave below middle C and the letters span the octave above that C.

A sharp is formed by adding -is to the end of a pitch name and a flat is formed by adding -es. Double sharps and double flats are obtained by adding -isis or -eses. These names are the Dutch note names. In Dutch, aes is contracted to as, but both forms are accepted. Similarly, both es and ees are accepted.

The optional octave specification takes the form of a series of single quote (`'') characters or a series of comma (`,') characters. Each ' raises the pitch by one octave; each , lowers the pitch by an octave

Normally accidentals are printed automatically where needed, but it is also possible to force them to be printed. A reminder accidental can be forced by adding an exclamation mark after the pitch. A cautionary accidental (i.e. an accidental within parentheses) can be obtained by adding a question mark after the pitch.

The size of cautionary accidentals can be changed and the parentheses removed if required.

Suggested accidentals are a part of ancient music (known as annotational accidentals) and are printed above the note. Their size can also be changed and paretheses added if desired.

Half-flats and half-sharps are formed by adding -eh and -ih; the following is a series of Cs with increasing pitches. Micro tones are also exported to the MIDI file. There are no generally accepted standards for denoting three quarter flats, so LilyPond's symbol does not conform to any standard.

A chord is formed by a enclosing a set of pitches in < and >. A chord may be followed by a duration, and a set of articulations, just like simple notes

Rests are entered like notes, with the note name r, so just type r followed by the duration.

A rest's vertical position may be explicitly specified by entering a note with the \rest keyword appended, the rest will be placed at the note's place. This makes manual formatting in polyphonic music easier. Automatic rest collision formatting will leave these rests alone.

An invisible rest (also called a `skip') can be entered like a note with note name `s' or with \skip duration.

The s syntax for skips is only available in note mode and chord mode. In other situations, for example, when entering lyrics, using the \skip command is recommended.