How to Read Guitar Tab

Guitar tab or tablature is a very popular method of notating Numbers are then placed on these lines to represent finger
guitar music. What makes tab so popular is that, once you get the positions on the guitar fret board. If you read the diagram below
hang of it, it is very easy to read. you would play this on a guitar by putting your finger just behind
the 2nd fret on the 5th string, then you would play the note at
In order to understand tab, you need to visualize a guitar neck as
the 4th fret, then again on the 2nd fret. The ‘zero’ represents
if you are playing the guitar and looking down on the neck. Tab
playing an open string. As musical notes this would read as
consists of 6 horizontal lines that represent the strings of the
follows B C# B A.
guitar. The thickest string being the bottom most line and the
thinnest string being the topmost.

e IT ~ T e~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
B
G
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
-.,--------,--- e~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
c~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
• I
D ~~~~~~~~~~ o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A ~~~~~~~~~~ • .
A~-2~4~2~01~~~~~~~~~~~~
E~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E

G u it a r Ta b Ch o rds
To tab a chord the notes would be placed in a vertical line upon the horizontal ones. This diagram represents a C Chord. You would strum the
bottom 5 strings of the guitar in one motion if you were to read this tab properly:

e~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~-
• 1~~~~~~~~~-
G o~~~~~~~~~-
D 2~~~~~~~~~-
A 3~~~~~~~~~-
E~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And in this case you would strum the ‘C Chord’ three times:

e~~~~~~~o~o~o~~~~~~~~
8 1~1~1~~~~~~~~
c o~o~o~~~~~~~~
D 2~2~2~~~~~~~~
A 3~3~3~~~~~~~~
E~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammer  On watch video Pul l  Off watch video Bend watch video

Hammer on is executed by picking a note Pull off is the opposite of a hammer on, so This is where the fretting hand actually
and then hammering done with the the first note is played again then the bends the string to give a wobbly effect.
fretting hand on the second note. The fretting hand pulls the finger off and lets the It's often used in solos. Song example
second note isn’t actually picked but one fretted behind it play. Song example with this technique: AC/DC - You Shook
kind of echos the first one. Song with this technique: Metallica – Nothing Else Me All Night Long
example with this technique: Black Matters.
Sabbath – Paranoid. Hammer ons are
written in a tab like this:

Rel ease Bend c watch video Sl i de c watch video Legato  Sl i de c watch video

Release bend is just like a bend, but it For a slide you start off plucking the first The same as usual slide except the
tells you when to release the bend and note and slide on the string up or down to second note is not struck. Song example
go to the next note. Song example with the second. Song example with this with this technique: Black Sabbath – Iron
this technique: Guns N’ Roses – Don’t technique: Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing. In Man.
Cry (Slash guitar solo). the tab below you would play the first note
on the 10th fret then slide the finger that is
holding that note up to the 8th fret (a slide-
down):
 1/2 3
1 \
----14-~-------
1 1 --+-rf----= "n---

Or here you slide your finger from the 3rd

fret to the 5th without lifting your finger (a
slide-up):

------3............ 5--

V i br ato watch video Wi de V i br ato watch video Let Ri ng

Vibrato is like a constant rhythmic The pitch is varied to a greater degree by "Let ring" marker tells you to let that note
bending of the string. You do a bend up vibrating with the fretting hand. Song ring until the end of the dashed line.
and bend down quickly to create a example with this technique: Black Label Song example with this technique:
moving sound. Song example with this Society - In This River. Metallica – Enter Sandman.
technique: Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze.

'''''''''''''''' '' - -2-------,f-----

-------+-5--
,
If!'! nnq- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -I
-0----,,--------
-----il--3---1-

Pal m Mute watch video G ho st N o te c watch video Dead N o te watch video

A palm mute effect is achieved when you The best description of a ghost note, is a Dead note refers to muting the strings
take the side of your right hand (4th note that is felt but not heard. You will play with your left hand. A dead note effect is
finger side) and lightly touch the string the note softer, and without emphasis. A achieved by lightly resting your left hand
at the edge of the bridge. This will give ghost note can be played by fretting a note, across the strings without actually
the notes that you are playing a muffled but not picking it. Ghost notes are barely pressing the strings against the fret.
sound. Song example with this audible, but they do a lot to the feel of the Song example with this technique:
technique: Green Day – Basket Case. music. The notation for the ghost note is Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
round brackets. Song example with this
technique: 3 Rush – La Villa Strangiato (bar
194)

P.M------------ I
-x-x-x-x------
-15----(15)--- -X-X-X-X-6--6-6-
-X-X-X-X-6--6-6-
9-9 9-9 9 -X-X-X-X-4--4-4-
7-7 7-7 7

Up/Do wn Str o ke N atur al  Har mo ni cs c watch video

The first chord is to be played with a down stroke, the second Natural harmonics are notes that produce a bell like sound when
chord is to be played with an up stroke and the third is to be you touch a string over a particular fret bar. The notation that is
played with a down stroke again. Song example with this most commonly used is the fret that you will touch with romb
technique: Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night sign before. Song example with this technique: Yngwie
Malmsteen - Black Star

10

=-i: J :- J:
-----~12----

=I 2 2 -- 2
_.12---------
1
R h y t h m No t a t io n
Tabs do not have information on the rhythm or lengths of the notes – only on their pitch. This means you can play the same tab in different
ways. Although with Songsterr you can see and hear the tab as it is being played, rhythm notation will tell you exactly when to play note and
how long to hold it. We use rhythm notation which is very similar to sheet music notation (scores). The basics of rhythm notation are
explained below.

The Beat
Music is based in time. Most music has a steady, recurring pulse called the beat. It’s the steady rhythm to which you want to tap your foot or
dance. Think of any music you’ve heard in a dance club and you can quickly imagine the beat of the music. The element of time in a piece of
music revolves around the beat.

Bar s
To help keep our place in music, beats are
grouped into bars, or measures as they are
also called. Bars are delineated by bar lines.
In many songs four beats make up one bar.
bat barline
......,_ . bar

The steady pulse would be counted 1, 2, 3, 0

0 2 2 3 2 0
4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, … and so on. Beat one 3 3~
always marks the beginning of the bar.

Time S ign a t u re
When reading tab, we can look at the time
signature. This is that fraction that happens
at the beginning of each tab. The top
number in the fraction stands for the number
of beats in a bar (in most cases it is 4). The
bottom number stands for the note value
that is equal to the beat of the music. In
most cases the bottom number is also 4,
which indicates that the 1/4 note is the pulse
of the music. In other words, 4/4 time means
each bar is equal to 4 1/4 notes.

No t e s , R e s t s a n d Th e ir Va lu e s
Rhythm notation is created by altering All the basic rhythmic values are just simple All rhythm values can be constructed
the appearance of notes to indicate the fractions of the 4-beat whole note. Let's look from two rhythm values of half the
relative duration that these notes occupy at the rhythm notation of the tab below: duration:
within a tab. Conversely, rests describe
the relative length of silence. The names
of the different notes and rests are
derived from their fractional value of ~2~-0~~2--=--_-_----:2~-
what is considered a beat:

We can see that each note has the value of

Note Rest quarter. Quarter notes last one beat each.
~
Whole (not signed)
--
You can play this tab fast or slow, but the
relative duration stays the same (one note for
one beat). Another example:
I + I =1 -=-·-
Hair (not signed) .-.
OS
L + L =I -=t•t
Quater
t ~ ~-~-~ t=., • .,
Eighth L 'I
0 0-0-0 L+L = L
L_J L_J
Sixteenth
L :, + e = L :, + :, = 'J
=
Thirty-second
= ? Here you can see the pause with duration of
half (two beats) and then chord D5 is played
four times with duration of eighth (half of a
beat)
Do ts Ti es Beams
Notes and rests can be attended by a The duration of notes can also be increased It is common for smaller valued notes to
small dot, appearing just to the right of by the use of ties. When tied together, the be grouped together via beams. Grouped
the rhythmic element. This increases the following notes are held for the duration of notes usually have the length of one
duration of the note or rest by one half: the second note as well. Rests are never tied beat. Rests are never beamed:
together.

I.= I + L L L = LJ
12 14-
~=L + b b b b b =
~= b + k I. L I. L

Triple t s
Generally triplet consists of three notes that

*
will have duration of two notes of the same
length when playing. In the example below
notes are grouped in three's because the
duration of 3 of this triplet's 1/8 notes equal
8-7
the duration of only one 1/4 note (not 3/8). I
'---
I
J __,
I
So basically instead of dividing the 1/4 note
by 2 to get 1/8th notes, we have divided by
three. In standard music notation these
usually have a 3 written underneath the
group.

Repeats
Repeat is one of the most confusing parts of a tab notation. When a pair of dots accompanies a double bar, it signifies that you must repeat
music either from the very front of the piece or front the previous repeat symbol as follows:

beginningof repeat end of repeat with repeat number (3x)

s 6 h
x-x-x-x x-x-x-x
• ., X-X-X-X-3-3 ., X-X-X-X-6-§=
- t>-3-3-3---+--X-X-X-X-3-3~0 ' 6-6---+--X-X-X-X-6- 0 .
- -3-3-3--x-x-x-x-1-e O "
-z 6-6--X-X-X-X-4- 0
- -1-1-1 0 4-4 0

L..d bLJ L..d b:LJ

You should ignore repeat symbols with the dots on the right side the first time you encounter them; when you come to a repeat symbol with
dots on the left side, jump back to the previous repeat symbol facing the opposite direction (if there is no previous symbol, go to the
beginning of the piece). The next time you come to the repeat symbol, ignore it and keep going unless it includes instructions such as "3x"
(repeat three times). See Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit song for example.

A l ter nate Endi ngs

A section will often have a different ending after each repeat. The example below includes a first and a second ending. Play until you hit the
repeat symbol, jump back to the previous repeat symbol (not shown on the picture) and play until you reach the bracketed first ending, skip
the measures under the bracket and jump immediately to the second ending, and then continue. See Eric Clapton - Tears In Heaven for
example.

first ending ,.------second ending ___

44

2
~=--=--~:.r.---='i~
I
45

--+-1-~_"2-_-4°
t::::::::1 •
~-3-2'----~---2---2~2-2
4--''2-} ~ ~--0
--
~
46

L.......J ~
47

~== ~
CCJ--.----tl
~ * 48