What is Tablature?
TAB, also known as tablature, is probably the most common way of writing out music that is written for the guitar. It is different from normal classical music notation in that it uses ordinary numbers and keyboard characters instead of standard music notation which uses a combination of symbols. The best thing about this format for guitarists is that anyone with a computer can write or read TAB making it a very user friendly way of reading and communicating guitar music. This is especially helpful when sending music information across the internet because it can be easily shared with no special software requirements. Learning to play guitar tab is also much simpler than trying to read classical music for the guitar because it is directly related to the fret board of your guitar. This means you can easily see where to place your fingers on the fret board. It is important to at least understand and be able to read classical music notation when needed. However, most things can be done using tablature as long as it is readily available for the song that you are working on. Tablature is easily learned with just a few short minutes of reading. TAB does have some weaknesses.For one thing, rhythm is not easily indicated with guitar tab. The rhythm can, however, be indicated using strum indicators.
Alright, when you learn to play guitar tab you should first take a look at the guitar. You should clearly see that it has six strings going from thickest to thinnest. On a TAB diagram, the thinnest string (or 1st string as its most commonly called) is at the top – the thickest (or 6th string) is located at the bottom. This is shown in the diagram below.This diagram shows you how tablature is related to the guitar fret board:
You might notice that this guitar seems to be upside down compared to how you play. This is just how guitar music is generally written. It may seem a little confusing at first because it seems upside down but eventually you do get used to it and you will find that tablature is still a very simple way to learn guitar. If you transfer this model to a written format you will get TAB. Check out the tablature score written below:
The lines above of course represent the strings of the guitar. The top line of the tab is the thinnest string and the bottom line is the thickest. If you look at the guitar you will see the metal bars that raise up from the neck of the guitar. These are called frets. TAB uses numbers in order to show you which of these frets to press and play. For example, take a look at the TAB diagram below. You can see that the first string is being played. The number shows which fret that you should press down. When the number zero is displayed such as in this case this means you shouldn’t press down anything. You would simply play the string openly without pressing down on the fretboard. So you would play the first or thinnest string with your strumming hand and nothing with your fret hand.
A Major Chord
Above, you see the A major chord written in tablature. The first and the fifth strings are played openly while the second third and fourth strings are played on the second fret and the 6th string is not played. Sometimes when a string is not to be played it is indicated with an X. In this example it simply has nothing shown for that string which also indicates not to play it.
If you have read the TAB correctly then your fingers should look like the illustration below:
That’s it! Armed with this information, you should be able to quickly learn to play guitar tab. You will also find many examples of tablature and more information on how to read it in the courses found on our Guitar Lesson Reviews page.
