HOW TO READ GUITAR TABLATUREBy: Brandon Tabit

INTRODUCTION

Guitar tablatures, or tabs, are just a way of writing and reading notes used to play guitar.

You do not have to know how to read music to read tabs, and they are much, MUCH easier to use.

ADVANTAGES

Tabs are very easy to read and write.

You can find them for free anywhere on the internet, unlike actual sheet music that you normally have to buy.

DISADVANTAGES

Since tabs are numbers and not notes, you don’t know just by reading the music how long or how fast to play a piece, you have to know the beat beforehand. Unless, of course, you buy a tab book, that shows notes and tabs simultaneously.

SYMBOLS

The tabber most of the time will give a legend, or key, at the top of his tab with symbols and their meanings. Ex. / = slide, p = pull off, h =

hammer on, b = bend, x = palm mute

All these symbols do is tell you how to play certain notes. If blown off, these notes with

symbols can sound very different from the actual song, so make sure you pay attention and play it the right way. A hammered fret sounds a lot different than a picked fret.

Tim Naylor, “Ride the Lightning Guitar Book,” January 19, 2011 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution NC NDW

STRINGS Tabs are wrote on 6 lines, each line representing a

string. The bottom line is the low E, or 1st string. The next line up is the A, or 2nd string, and so on. Standard tuning is EADGBe.

The tabber should include whether the strings are tuned standard, drop D, drop C, etc.

Scott*, “Guitar strings,” November 17, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution NC SAGuitar strings, straight out of the package.

If you are a beginner guitarist using this slideshow, then I would suggest playing along with the following tab while still learning how to

fully understand them. It will help!The tab is the intro to One by Metallica.

PLAY ALONG

FRETS

What note you play is symbolized by a number. The number is what fret you play, and what line it is on depends on what string you play it on.

Ex. A song starts with the number 2 displayed on the second-to-bottom line. You would hold down the second fret on your A, or 2nd, string and pluck that string.

e |-------------------------------------------------------|G |-------------------------------------------------------|B |---------------------------------------------0r--------|D |--------4---0-----4---0-----4---0-----4---0------------|A |------2---2---------------2---2------------------------|E |----------------3---3---------------3---3--------------|

BEAT

Like I said before, with most tabs you have to know how the song goes before you play it, but sometimes, a tabber will include measures at the top of his tab. You must know a little about reading music to know how to use these, but they basically just let you know how many beats are in a measure and how many notes are included in each measure.

[ 1 Measure ] [ 3 B/M ] |-1-&-2-&-3-|-1-&-2-&-3-|-1-&-2-&-3-|-1-&-2-&-3-|----|e |----------------------------------------------------|G |----------------------------------------------------|B |---------------------------------------------0r-----|D |---4---0-------4---0-------4---0-------4---0--------|A |-2---2-------------------2---2----------------------|E |-------------3---3-------------------3---3----------|

Above is the same tab from before, but now it has measures to help get timing down.

e |-------------------------------------------------------|G |-------------------------------------------------------|B |---------------------------------------------0r--------|D |--------4---0-----4---0-----4---0-----4---0------------|A |------2---2---------------2---2------------------------|E |----------------3---3---------------3---3--------------|

Remember while playing this, the use of symbols. The symbol, r, in this case means to let the note ring longer than what you have been letting the others.

BREAKDOWN

Don’t become overwhelmed by the tab because it seems hard. A beginner will often get frustrated and want to quit because it seems like too much.

I suggest breaking down the song into sections. Take it a few measures, or a riff, at time. The tab you have been playing on is broken down into just a few measures of the introduction.

application Now that you know the

basics of reading tablature, try to put together the rest of the intro I have tabbed. Remember the slides,

and finishing this tab will be a walk in the park.

Pierre Vignau, “Walk in the park,” September 19, 2006 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

ONE - METALLICA

e |-------------------------------------------------|G |-------------------------------------------------|B |-------------------------------------------------|D |--------4---0-----4---0-----4---0----------------|A |------2---2-----0---0-----------------2---2------|E |--------------------------3---3-----0---2--------|

Click here for the rest of One - Metallica

HOW TO READ GUITAR TABLATUREBy: Brandon Tabit