How to read guitar tabs, the basics. While regular music notation represents the rhythm and duration of each note, guitar tablature is more user based, showing you where and when a finger should be put to generate a specific note. Pitch and rhythm are not always explicitly noted and must be 'filled in' by the performer. Welcome to the world of guitar tabs.
Guitar tabs are a diagrammatic representation of the strings and frets of the instrument. Consisting of a series of horizontal lines forming a staff similar to standard notation. Each line represents a string. So a regular guitar tab has a six-line staff and a bass guitar tab has four lines. The top line of the tab represents the highest pitched string of the guitar.
The example below will learn you how to read guitar tabs in no time. Notice the letters on the left, these represent the string names, with a lower-case "e" for the high E string. (Also used are numbers 1-6, where "1" is the high E string, "2" is the B string etc.)
The numbers written ON the lines are the frets you should put a finger on. For example, the number 3 indicates that you should press down at the third fret on the low E (biggest string). A 0 means an open string or no fingers. An X means: don't strum this string. An X can be left out.
Explanation: The only string used is the E string or the thickest one. The 'hyphened' lines gives you an idea of the tempo to use. Pay attention to the variation in it. 3 Dashes mean a longer pause than 1 dash.
Ok, sound that string not fretted, than pluck it while holding a finger on the third fret, pluck it again but move your finger to the fifth fret end so forth. Where there's only one dash between two numbers, quickly move your finger from one fret to the other.
And that's how you read a guitar tab. Not that hard is it?
Examples of guitar tab notation:
Have some fun playing this Silent Night guitar tab:
Chords on Tabs The same notation can be used to depict guitar chords. But instead of just one number there are as much numbers as there are frets used to play that chord. An example:
The E chord
e|---0---
B|---0---
G|---1---
D|---2---
A|---2---
E|---0---
E
Explanation: To play the E chord on the tab above you have to put a finger on the first fret of the G string, one on the second fret of the D string and one on the second fret of the A string.
This is not a good way to learn how to play chords cause you have to figure out yourself which finger to put on which fret. You'll find a better way to learn guitar chords on this page.
Complex Guitar Tabs Thought you were there yet? No sir, not quite. Guitar tabs are mostly a lot more complicated than the ones in the examples above. Even the one below is actually not that hard.
And what about the slides and pull-offs and stuff?
Various letters and other symbols are used to denote bends, hammer-ons, trills, Pull-offs, slides, and so on.
To give you an idea of what to expect please explore the legend below. It's an example of a tab legend you can find on the Internet.
Duration Legend W - whole; H - half; Q - quarter; E - 8th; S - 16th; T - 32nd; X - 64th; a - acciaccatura+ - note tied to previous; . - note dotted; .. - note double dotted. Uncapitalized letters represent notes that are staccato (1/2 duration). Irregular groupings are notated above the duration line. Duration letters will always appear directly above the note/fret number it represents the duration for. Duration letters with no fret number below them represent rests. Multi bar rests are notated in the form Wxn, where n is the number of bars to rest for. Low melody durations appear below the staff.
Tablature Legend
L - tied note
x - dead note
g - grace note
(n) - ghost note
> - accentuated note
NH - natural harmonic
AH - artificial harmonic
TH - tapped harmonic
SH - semi harmonic
PH - pitch harmonic
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend
br - bend release
pb - preBend
pbr - preBend release
brb - bend release bend
/ - tremolo bar dip
- tremolo bar dive
-/n - tremolo bar Release up
/n - tremolo bar inverted dip
/n - tremolo bar return
-
- tremolo bar Release down
S - shift slide
s - legato slide
/ - slide into from below or out of upwards
- slide into from above or out of downwards
~ - vibrato
W - wide vibrato
tr - trill
TP - tremolo picking
T - tapping
S - slap
P - pop
< - fade in
^ - brush up
v - brush down
Misc Legend
| - bar
|| - double bar
||o - repeat start
o|| - repeat end
*| - double bar (ending)
: - bar (free time)
$ - Segno
& - Coda
Tempo markers - = BPM(8/16=s8/s16), where s8 = swing 8ths,
s16 = swing 16ths
Guitar tab is not standardized and different sheet music publishers adopt different conventions. Songbooks and guitar magazines usually include a legend setting out the convention in use. But now you got the idea, right?
