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How To Read Guitar Tabs

Quickly And Easily

by Guitar Tips

DISCLOSURE : We are paid by the companies who's products we review. Each product reviewed has been thoroughly tested by us. The opinions offered here are all our own and all information was verified as accurate at the time of the review.

Many e-mails come into my office asking how to read & write tabs.

I've written about this before -- but I'm going to cover it again to make sure we're all singing from the same song book!

I'll also include a few advanced symbols and meanings as it's important you know what they mean in case you get stuck!

Now -- tabs are not proper music notation. They are an easy way to learn your favourite songs.

If proper music notation is what you want -- check out: http://datadragon.com/education/reading/

...as they provide a great tutorial. But if all you want to do is learn your favourite song quickly and easily -- tabs are the way to go!

Here's how they work....(you'll pick this up in 2 seconds!)

Tablature is a way of indicating the positioning of notes and fingering on the guitar fretboard.
There are 6 tab lines representing 6 strings on the guitar. (The 1st string is the thinnest, and the 6th string is the thickest) They are as follows:

E----------------------------- String 1
B----------------------------- String 2
G----------------------------- String 3
D----------------------------- String 4
A----------------------------- String 5
E----------------------------- String 6

When a number is placed on one of the lines, it indicates the fret location of note for example,

E----------------------------- String 1
B------4---------------------- String 2
G----------------------------- String 3
D----------------------------- String 4
A----------------------------- String 5
E----------------------------- String 6

This means to play the 4th Fret on the 2nd string

E----------------------------- String 1
B----------------------------- String 2
G----------------------------- String 3
D----------------------------- String 4
A------0---------------------- String 5
E----------------------------- String 6

This indicates an open 5th string

E---1------------------------- String 1
B-----------8----------------- String 2
G-------7--------------------- String 3
D---------------2------------- String 4
A----------------------------- String 5
E------------------------12--- String 6

This indicates:
1st Fret, 1st string then
7th Fret, 3rd string, then
8th Fret, 2nd string, then
2nd Fret, 4th string, then
12th Fret, 6th string.

Guitar Tips

Further Points To Remember...

Other letters / symbols used in tabs.

h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
t - right hand tap
x - play 'note' with heavy damping

When you see all numbers in a line one after another

E---3------------------------- String 1
B---3------------------------- String 2
G---4------------------------- String 3
D---5------------------------- String 4
A---5------------------------- String 5
E---3------------------------- String 6

...it means you play the entire chord using all strings

When you see tabs that have "h"

E--------------------------------String 1
B--------------------------------String 2
G--------------------------------String 3
D--------------------------------String 4
A---------7h9-----------10h12----String 5
E---0--0----------0--0-----------String 6

....it means to do a "Hammer On" from the 7th fret to the 9th fret and again for the 10th fret to the 12th fret

Guitar Tips

When you see other tabs that have "p"

E--------------------------------String 1
B--------------------------------String 2
G--------------------------------String 3
D--------------------------------String 4
A---------9p7-----------12p10----String 5
E---0--0----------0--0-----------String 6

....it means to do a "Pull Off" from the 9th fret to the 7th fret and again for the 12th fret to the 10th fret

When you see other tabs that have "b"

E--------------------------------String 1
B--------------------------------String 2
G--------------------------------String 3
D--------------------------------String 4
A---------7b9-----------10b12----String 5
E--------------------------------String 6

...it means strike the string 5 on the 7th fret, then bend the note up so that it sounds the same as the note played on the 9th fret.

Here's a quick tablature legend to keep on file...
Tablature Legend
 h - hammer-on
 p - pull-off
 b - bend
 pb - pre-bend
 r - bend release (release immediately if no number after r)
 /\ - slide into or out of (from/to "nowhere")
 s - legato slide
 S - shift slide
<n> - natural harmonic
[n] - artificial harmonic
n(n) - tapped harmonic
 ~ - vibrato
 tr - trill
 T - tap
 TP - trem. picking
 PM - palm muting
\n/ - tremolo bar dip; n = amount to dip
 \n - tremolo bar down
 n/ - tremolo bar up
/n\ - tremolo bar inverted dip
 = - hold bend; also acts as connecting device for hammers/pulls
 <> - volume swell (louder/softer)
 x - on rhythm slash represents muted slash
 o - on rhythm slash represents single note slash
WRITTEN BY GUITAR TIPS
If you've always wanted to learn to play the guitar but never had the chance, give me 17 minutes a day for 90 days and I'll show you how to play virtually any song you want! Visit Guitar Tips

DISCLOSURE : We are paid by the companies who's products we review. Each product reviewed has been thoroughly tested by us. The opinions offered here are all our own and all information was verified as accurate at the time of the review.

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