Learning how to read guitar tabs is really important for any guitarist.
If you want to learn how to play songs from tab you’ll need to understand tablature. it’s also handy to be able to write tablature (which you will be able to do once you learn how to read it) in case you need to write something down that you?ve created – or to write something out for a friend to learn.
Either way learning tab is essential for the modern day guitarist – particularly if you don?t know how to read music. Even if you know how to read music, there will be times when you only have access to tab so knowing both is a great advantage.
What is Tab?
- Guitar tab is a guitar specific musical notation.
- Unlike traditional musical notation, guitar tab only shows the notes that are to be played. It doesn’t usually include the rhythm (although sometimes the rhythm may be notated below tab but?this is the exception rather than the rule – the image at the top of this page shows both traditional musical notation and tab).
- Guitar tab will show if you are supposed to use specific guitar techniques such as hammer ons, pull offs or slides.
How to Read Tabs
When you see guitar tab you will see 6 lines evenly spaced out. These six lines represent the strings. The names of the strings are usually written at the start of the line that represents that string. See figure a. below.
Figure a.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
If the guitar is supposed to be tuned to an alternative tuning then the notes that each string should be tuned to will be on the left hand side also. Although usually the tuning will also be indicated somewhere before the tab starts.
So for example if you were to play in drop D tuning then you should see figure b.
Figure b.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| D:------------------|
The 6th string (Low E in standard tuning) is always at the bottom and the 1st string (high e in standard tuning) is always at the top.
The frets
But a blank tab isn?t much good – we need to be able to see which notes to play!
This is as simple as showing the number of the fret that needs to be played on the string that it should be played.
For example, if you were required to play a note on the 3rd fret 5th string, followed by an open 4th string, followed by 2nd fret 4th string, then it would be notated as per figure c. below. The notes would be played one after the other.
Figure c.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:-------2----------| D:----0-------------| A:-3----------------| E:------------------|
If the notes are placed in the same vertical space as per figure d. then you play those notes at the same time as opposed to one after the other.
Figure d.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:-2----------------| D:-0----------------| A:-3----------------| E:------------------|
Notation for various Techniques
Tab will also show you when a note should be played in a certain way. For example if the note should be hammered on.
Hammer ons
Figure e. below shows how a hammer on is notated. This is sometimes notated with an “h” or alternatively with a “^” symbol.
Figure e.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:-2h3--2^3---------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Pull offs
Figure f. below shows how a pull off is notated.
Figure f.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:-3p2--------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Slides
Figure g. below shows how a slide should be notated. A slide is usually notated by a “/” symbol. You play the note in the fret immediately before the “/” symbol and you slide up to the fret immediately after the “/” symbol. You don’t then play the note that it slides to with your right hand (the note is heard just from your left finger sliding).
Some tabs use the “/” symbol differently in that the “/” symbol means that you slide up to the note and then play the note that you slid to. And then they use a lower case ?s? to indicate a slide that doesn’t immediately play the note it has slidden up/down to. I find this more confusing though and it is less common.
Figure g.
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:-2/4--------------| D:------7/4---------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Bends
Figure h. below shows how bends are notated. The note preceding the ?b? is played and the string is bent until it sounds like the note after the ?b?. Sometimes the note after the b is shown in brackets as per figure i.
Figure h.
e:------------------| B:-10b12--12b10-----| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Figure i.
e:------------------| B:-10b(12)--12b(10)-| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
In the case of figure h and figure i the notes are bent up and then whilst the note is in the bent position it is picked before bringing the note back to its original position.
In figure j however, the note is bent upwards and then released back down without picking it again. So there are three sounds for the one picked note.
Figure j.
e:------------------| B:-10b12r10---------| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Virbrato
To indicate vibrato the ?~? symbol is usually used. Alternatively a ?v? might be used. See figures k. and l. below.
Figure k.
e:------------------| B:-10--12--10~------| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Figure l.
e:------------------| B:-10--12--10v------| G:------------------| D:------------------| A:------------------| E:------------------|
Muting
When a string(s) is?supposed to be played with the right hand but muted (i.e. without the strings actually being fretted but not played open either – i.e. when your left finger(s) are just sitting on the string(s) but not pressing anything) this is notated with an ?x? as per figure m. This could be multiple strings at a time or single strings.
figure m
e:------------------| B:------------------| G:-------------x--x-| D:-------------x--x-| A:---x--x--x---x--x-| E:-------------x--x-|
The Advantages of Tab
- Easy and fast to learn when compared to learning to read music
- Shows guitar specific techniques
The limitations of Tab
- doesn’t show how the rhythm should be played. You need to rely on having the song and being able to listen to it to get the rhythm. Sometimes, but rarely tabs come with the rhythm notated underneath.
- doesn’t show which fingers you should use to play each note (although musical notation won’t show this either)
The Best of Both Worlds
Guitar song books that you can buy usually come with both the musical notation and the tab (and often the vocal melody too) so you get the best of both worlds with those.
And they?re usually more accurate than the one?s you find online – that being said there are some quite decent tabs online these days. But I still find a lot that are inaccurate – or incomplete, or only show one guitar part when there are two, etc.
The Best Way
The very best way to learn songs is by being taught through an instructor. You will be guided through the song note by note, have the rhythm explained and they will show you the best fingers to use for each note so that you can play the song smoothly and efficiently.
This can be achieved using either an online or in-person instructor. Check out the pros and cons of online and in-person lessons at the link below.
Should you decide to go with online lessons the best I have seen for learning songs is guitartricks.com. Check out the detailed review I did on their lessons at the link below.
Thanks for Reading
I hope this page has given you everything you need to know to read guitar tabs.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
Image Credit
By Hyacinth (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
FAQs How to Read Acoustic Guitar Tabs
Very often with guitar sheet music – and especially if it is mostly chordal accompaniment being notated – the chord symbols will usually be included above the stave, meaning that often you will not even need to read the music itself. Of course, if you need or want to you can get down to the nitty-gritty and give it a good read in much the same way that you would read any other sheet music – this is not a phenomenon specific to the guitar.
Much like western literature, guitar tablature is read from left to right with all the notes notated in chronological order. This is very much akin to musical notation though usually without the rhythmical elements such as note lengths. This means that you will often need to hear a piece of music in conjunction with its notated tablature to get the full picture of what it is supposed to sound like. If it is supposed to be a chord, then all of the notes will be notated in alignment with one another, indicating that they are supposed to be played simultaneously (more or less).
Guitar tablature sure can look funny and confusing if we do not know what it is we are looking at. While musical notation is not a phenomenon specific to the guitar, tablature is essentially a form of musical notation that is meant specifically for the instrument, leading many to call it the ‘the guitarist’s sheet music’. If we know what to look out for, then tablature is filled with little bits of information that can help us to play a piece of music as accurately as possible while still providing space to fill it up with what makes our own playing unique.
Very often, an acoustic guitar chord will be an open chord. This is because such a guitar is very often associated with singer-songwriters and country artists. Thus, these open cowboy chords will very often just be simple chords that are either major or minor. Sometimes, however, they can be inverted chords or slash chords, chords that are modified in some way. A slash chord in particular is useful to know when reading chord charts, for though they can seem daunting they are actually rather simple. A C/G, for example, is just a C chord that uses a G note as its bass note.
