How do I understand guitar tabs?

Question

I want to learn a few songs on the guitar to street perform and earn money. So how do tabs work? Is the number the fret you play?

Answer 1

e--------------------------------

B--------------------------------

G--------------------------------

D--------------------------------

A--------------------------------

E--------------------------------

Numbers are then placed on these lines to represent finger positions on the guitar fret board. If you read the diagram below you would play this on a guitar by putting your finger just behind the 2nd fret on the 5th string (or the second thickest string). As musical notes this would read as follows B B B C# B A. The ‘zero’ represents playing an open string. So in this case you would play the A open with no finger position on the fretboard.

e-------------------------------

B-------------------------------

G-------------------------------

D-------------------------------

A--2--2--2--4--2--0------------

E-------------------------------

How To Read Guitar Tab Chords

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--0----------------------------

B--1----------------------------

G--0----------------------------

D--2----------------------------

A--3----------------------------

E-------------------------------

And this one you would strum the ‘C Chord’ three times.

e--0--0--0---------------------

B--1--1--1---------------------

G--0--0--0---------------------

D--2--2--2---------------------

A--3--3--3---------------------

E------------------------------

The one shortcoming of guitar tab is it doesn’t usually represent how long to hold a note for, or rhythm very well. Although some good tab writers will represent it by how much space is between each note. Tab works best if you listen to the song for guidance on timing then read the notes and practice it. Here for example is the timing of ‘Day Tripper’ by the Beatles, note the distances between the numbers, the first ‘0′ would ring slightly longer then the next 4 notes and the distance between D2 and D0 would also indicate a break in timing:

e-----------------------------

B-----------------------------

G-----------------------------

D-----------2---0---4---0-2--

A---------2-------2---2-------

E-0---3-4---------------------

Tablature Symbols

The numbers don’t really describe the subtle techniques that a guitarist can execute, these are the tablature symbols that represent various techniques.

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

s - legato slide

S - shift slide

- natural harmonic

[n] - artificial harmonic

n(n) - tapped harmonic

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

Answer 2

E_______________________________________... B_______________________________________... G_______________________________________... D_______________________________________...                                                                                                              E is the thinest string B is the second thinest G is next and so on  .                                                                                                                                           so list yto the guy who did the same thing as me

Answer 3

The six lines of tab represent the six strings of the guitar with the top line (1st string) to the bottom line (6th string).

The numbers represent the fret at which you place your finger(s). But a "0" indicates an open string, so don't place any fingers down. When numbers are placed diagonally on different lines, you pick/fingerpick each note one at a time. When numbers are stacked one on top of the other, that indicates a chord.

What you have to figure out is what fingers to use for each note/chord. Tab doesn't give you that information.

Answer 4

What xxxballaxxx said is extremely right. Now that you know how to read tabs, go to www.ultimate-guitar.com. They have great tabs to almost every song you can think of.

Answer 5

http://guitar.about.com/library/blhowtor...

That site is great, it's how I learned to play guitar. I also reccommend checking out their free beginner guitar lessons (found here: http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitar... )

Answer 6

Standard tuning on a guitar is, starting at the lowest note, EADGBE. These notes are represented by a number, for example, is a guitar tab reads 0-0-0-0-0-0 that means that the notes are all open and simply strummed. If a tab reads 3-2-0-0-0-3, it means that on the E string, the string is pressed down on the third fret, the A on the second fret, the D, G, and B strings are all open, and the E string is pressed down on the third fret. This is playing a G chord.