So still learning to read music well…

I understand that when you have a piece of music that has a sharp symbol
right after the treble clef on lets say the top line of the scale (an F note), that all F notes in the piece, no matter what octave, are played sharp unless they are proceeded by a natural which cancels out the sharp.

Does a sharp notation in the treble clef also affect notes in the bass clef (if there is no sharp indication on the bass clef staff) ?

I ask because I have a song I am learning.. that just doesn’t sound right when an F# is played on the bass clef vs just using a normal F. The treble
clef F# all make sense and sound correct.

I just want to make sure I am understanding how to accurately read it. 

Thanks,
Mike

As far as I know, a key signature applies only to the clef where it appears.

However, it might be difficult to play a piece where the clefs’ key signatures didn’t agree. Having to remember that treble notes were affected, but bass not, would seem confusing.

We can’t see the piece of sheet music you are looking at, but it sounds very unusual for a typical piece of sheet music to have different key signatures in the treble and bass clef.

The key signature establishes the key the piece of music is written in.  You are correct about the key signature establishing the rule for sharps or flats uniformly throughout the piece...which can be over-written with accidental naturals, sharps, or flats.

If you get into more complex scores that are written for a variety of orchestral instruments (woodwinds, brass, etc.), you will find staffs in different keys (with different key signatures), due to the variations of the root key the instrument plays in.  But this won’t generally be the case in commercial sheet music.

Is your piece commercially produced sheet music?  As 5pinDIN noted, the key signature only applies to the staff it appears on.

You can see attached image for typical treble and base clef key signatures and the corresponding key the signature denotes.

Key Signatures.pdf  (File Size: 902KB - Downloads: 319)

This is interesting:
https://www.quora.com/In-a-grand-staff-can-the-key-signatures-be-different-for-the-bass-and-the-treble-clef

I’m not sure I could easily split my brain to quite that degree…
(I’m not referring to hand independence.)

Okay that makes sense now. Only to the clef it is present in.

Besides a million little websites, is there a book or manual
that is considered the definitive guide to reading sheet music?