Reading Guitar Tabs
Oh if only tab was available when I started out all those years ago, it would have saved hours of listening to records trying to play “by ear” or trying to get the sheet music for any given piece. TAB or tablature is a method of indicating notes or chords to be played on a guitar or bass. Simply by using ordinary characters and numbers.
So what will TAB tell you?
Well, just about all you need to be able to play a tune really, except the length of the note, which fingers to use, or the strumming pattern. So it is ideal for songs you have heard, and have a good idea how they go.
TAB is simple to read, and understand.
Unlike reading music, tab has 6 lines , which relate to the strings of the guitar.
The top line is the highest pitch string, and the bottom line is the lowest pitch string.
Below is a blank TAB with the string names indicated.
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Numbers are written on the lines to show you where to fret the string.
0 string played open
1 would be first fret
2 would be second fret etc
3 would be the third fret etc etc.
Tab is always read from left to right to find out what order to play the notes.
This TAB would mean play the sequence of notes on the bottom E string by moving up the neck a fret at a time, starting with the open string. As I said earlier tab does not show you which fingers to use but it will soon become obvious.
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E---0--1--2--3--4--5---------------------------------------------
In the example above notes are to be played one at a time. If two or more notes are stacked on top of each other as below they would be played as a chord. So in this example you would be fretting the G bar chord. (Using the e major shape)
E----3------------------------------------------------------------
B----3------------------------------------------------------------
G----4------------------------------------------------------------
D----5------------------------------------------------------------
A----5------------------------------------------------------------
E----3------------------------------------------------------------
Although TAB won’ t tell you the length of each note you can get a good idea from the spacing of each of the numbers. In the example below you will see the space between the notes going from high E to low E are greater than those going from low to high E. Therefore the second set of notes would ring longer.
Easy isnt it?
E------------------3----------------------------------------------
B---------------3-------3------------------------------------------
G------------4------------------4----------------------------------
D---------5----------------------------5---------------------------
A------5----------------------------------------5-----------------
E---3-----------------------------------------------------3--------
If you try the simple piece of tab for House of The Rising Sun below you will soon get the hang of the length of a note etc.
|-------|-----------------|-------------------|--------------------------|-
|-------|-----------------|-------------------|--------------------------|-
|-------|-----------------|-------------------|--------------------------|-
|-------|-----------------|--------------2----|----0---------------------|
|---0---|----0--------2---|----3--------------|---------0-----0--------I
|-------|-----------------|-------------------|--------------------------|-
|---------|----------------|-----------------|-------------|-
|---------|----------------|-----------------|-------------|-
|------2--|---2----------2-|---0-------------|-------------|-
|---------|----------------|---------------2-|--2----------|-
|---------|----------------|-----------------|-------------|-
|---------|----------------|-----------------|-------------|-
A lot of other important information can be included in a piece of TAB. This includes string bends, slides, hammer-ons, pull offs, and so on. The standard practice is to write letters or symbols between notes
to indicate how to play them. Here are some of the letters and symbols most
often used :
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
With hammer-ons and pull-offs you might find things like these :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A---------5h7-----------5h7----or perhaps-------5Ç7------
E-----------------------------------------------------------
which would mean play the A string at the
5th fret and hammer on to the 7th fret by quickly pressing another finger onto the same string but at the other fret indicated without plucking the string for a second time.
Pull offs look very similar :
E----3p0---------or again 3Ç0---------------------------
For each pull off you only pick the first note of the pair with the strumming hand - so in this example you would pick the notes on the 3rd fret, and the open string would be sounded by pulling off the finger giving it a pluck with the fretting finger as you do so.
Because you give the string an extra bit of energy when you hammer on and pull off, you only need to pluck the first note with the picking hand. You could even have a long string of hammer-ons and pull-offs like
this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G---2Ç4 Ç2 Ç4 Ç2 Ç4 Ç OR 2h4p2h4p2---------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
You will notice that in Tab a hammer on and pull off can look the same but it should become obvious that if the number after the symbol is higher than the one before it will be a hammer on, and vice versa for a pull off.
The art of hammer on, pull off, bends slides etc are worthy of separate lessons and I have only included them here to give you an idea of just how useful Tab can be.
Teejay O'Neill
