The Basics of Guitar Tabs
There are two ways to read or write down a song. There is one
professional way where regular sheet music with the fancy note symbols
is used. To use this, the player needs to learn a few things. But if you
want it simpler, tablature is your solution. This is a way of indicating
the positioning of notes and also the fingering on the guitar fret
board. This method is used only for fretted string instruments. Guitar
tablature teaches how to play songs with the sequence, notes and chords.
If you learn how to read guitar tabs, it will work for both electric and
acoustic guitars.
Guitar tab basics
There are six tab lines which represents the six different strings on a
guitar. The 1st and the last are the thinnest and strongest
respectively. These are labeled along with the notes which they
represent indicated on the left:
E - String 1
B - String 2
G - String 3
D - String 4
A - String 5
E - String 6
Fret is the area which is between each set of two usually the metal bars
on guitar. The first fret is farthest from you. In general, there are
21, 22, 23 or 24 frets on a guitar. The fret spaces get thinner as it
goes to the top.
There are also some marks on guitar to point the location of a fret.
There is one dot on the third, fifth, seventh, ninth fret, twelve fret,
fifteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth and the twenty first fret or maybe
even more.
Each row of the strings in tablature has numbers which indicate the fret
to press. The number 0 denotes no fret is pressed and string is played
open. When one number is placed on one line, it denotes the fret
location or note. For an example:
E - String 1
B - 4 - String 2
G - String 3
D - String 4
A - String 5
E - String 6
Here the 4th fret is to be played on 2nd string.
E - String 1
B - String 2
G - String 3
D - String 4
A - 0 - String 5
E - String 6
This means you open with 5th string.
Notes Only, No Rhythm
You will not be able to read rhythm using a guitar tab and you even
cannot tell the actual length of a note. Tablature can only give you
slight indication on the longevity of a note by the spaces between the
numbers. It will be a lot easier for you to read guitar tabs if you know
the song or posses a recording of the same. Things get easy when you
know the theme already. But only knowing how to read guitar tabs will
make it happen for you to play any song that comes with particularly
this type of notation.
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