| Learning how to read guitar tablature, also called | | | | to play guitar with techniques. Here is the list from |
| tabs, is simple. You need not have good | | | | howtotuneaguitar.org" |
| sight-reading skill. There are numbers telling you | | | | - h - hammer on |
| where to place your fingers. It helps you learn to | | | | - p - pull off |
| play great guitar music quickly. | | | | - b - bend string up |
| You can also write your own music in an easy | | | | - r - release bend |
| way. Just draw six straight lines and write down | | | | - / - slide up |
| some numbers and symbols. Then you can share | | | | - v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~) |
| your master pieces to people all over the world | | | | - t - right hand tap |
| and leave them to the next generations. Although | | | | - s - legato slide |
| guitar tabs are convenient, they have some | | | | - S - shift slide |
| weaknesses. I will discuss them at the end of this | | | | - - natural harmonic |
| article. | | | | - [n] - artificial harmonic |
| Let's talk about the basics of guitar tabs first. A | | | | - n(n) - tapped harmonic |
| tab has six lines, which represent the six strings | | | | - tr - trill |
| of your guitar. You may also find four-line tab for | | | | - T - tap |
| bass guitars. The top line indicates the thinnest | | | | - TP - trem. picking |
| string while the line at the bottom indicates the | | | | - PM - palm muting |
| thickest | | | | - 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) |
| There are letters written at the beginning of each | | | | - x - on rhythm slash represents muted slash |
| line. From the bottom to the top, they are | | | | - - on rhythm slash represents single note slash |
| normally E A D G B e, the standard tuning. But it | | | | Below is an example of the combination of the |
| may be changed, depending on the tuning of the | | | | numbers and the symbols. They are also |
| writer | | | | user-friendly. You an easily identify which |
| ---------------- | | | | techniques you should use. |
| --------- | | | | Start with the left hand side, they are Hammer |
| ---------- | | | | On, Pull Off, Bend, Release Bend, Slide-Up and |
| --------- | | | | --------------------5/9--------------------- |
| ---------- | | | | ----------------------------------- |
| ---------- | | | | ------------------------9t--------- |
| The numbers written on the lines tell you which | | | | ----------------------------------- |
| frets you need to press. They can range from 0 | | | | ----------------------------------- |
| to 24. When you see a "0", zero, you should play | | | | ----------------------------------- |
| an open string. For example, a "0" placed on the G | | | | Guitar tabs have two main weaknesses. You will |
| string indicates that you need to play a G sound. | | | | not know how long a note should be played and |
| You should read the tabs from left to right and | | | | which fingers you should use. Some tabs |
| play the note one by | | | | nowadays are trying to solve these problems. |
| ---------------- | | | | They use the space among the numbers to |
| --------- | | | | reveal the length of the notes. But it cannot be |
| ----------- | | | | totally accurate. So it is hard for you to play a |
| ----------- | | | | song that you have never heard before, even |
| ----------- | | | | though you have the tab. |
| ------------ | | | | Also there may be finger numbers added above |
| Sometimes you will see a group of numbers | | | | the notes. 1 indicates index finger, 2 indicates |
| written straightly from the top to the bottom. | | | | middle finger, 3 indicates ring finger and 4 indicates |
| This tells you to play a chord. You should press | | | | little finger. I personally do not like that because |
| the frets and strum the strings at the same time. | | | | the added finger numbers make the tab messy. |
| An "x" instead of a number tells you to muffle | | | | So that is all about the guitar tabs. Playing guitar |
| that strings. You need not play that strings. | | | | with tabs is easy. Hope you will find my tips |
| There are also some symbols showing you how | | | | useful. |