Why is everything backwards on tabs and chord charts?

Question

I mean like on tabs it goes EBGDAE but on a guitar it's EADGBE.

And on chord charts the low E string is at the front.

Just wondering. Thanks =)

Answer 1

Because it's as if you're looking at the guitar top-down, like sheet music. The top string will be on the top. Visualize it in your mind and flip it if you need to.

Answer 2

They're not backwards. :-) It took me about a week or so to grasp how TABS worked because I was confused. TABS-if you hold out a tab sheet in front of you-read with the top line as the 1st string and the bottom line as the 6th string- basically, tabs are a mirror image of your guitar neck.

As for chord charts, they show the guitar neck as if you were to lay your guitar on the floor and look at it from a standing up viewpoint.

Answer 3

I'm left handed, and learnt to play by turning right handed guitars upside down, without restringing the guitar, so it's not backwards for me.

If I want to go down the scale, I move my fingers down across the neck, to go up I go up.

Makes perfect sense to me!