Guitar TAB Guide
This Guitar TAB Guide covers many aspects of guitar-tablature, probably more than most beginners need. As a result, you can read what you need for a basic understanding, then return as you need, or want, to increase your knowledge of TAB. Eventually you can use the reference portion of this page to write your own TAB.
Note: The terms TAB and tablature mean the same thing. 'TAB' is used more often since it's faster to write and say.
Guitar TAB Basics
TAB is a form of shorthand for illustrating how to play six-string guitar. It's a simple graphic representing the strings and frets to pluck. It can also show how to pluck the string. TAB allows anyone to pick up a guitar and play the right notes, in the proper sequence, without understanding which notes they are.
TAB tells you almost nothing how long to hold a note, or how fast to play a passage.
If you are very familiar with a song, TAB is a fine way to learn it. However, you will never be able to properly play a song with TAB alone. Use it for it's strengths, but for new music, you need to learn how to read music notation and the fretboard of your guitar.
A Visual Fretboard
TAB is a visual representation of a standard, right-handed, six string guitar, if you were to lay it down in front of you, with the headstock to your left, and the body to your right, like this:
TAB uses a series of hyphens to represent the strings. Each string is identified on the far left by the name of the note produced when played open. The high-e (string 1) is at the top; low-E (string 6) is at the bottom. There is no restriction for how long a line of TAB can be, but for readability it should be kept short enough to prevent wrapping on a web-site or printed page.
e---------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------------------------------- E----------------------------------------------------------
Lines for TAB
Samples of Guitar TAB
Notes are identified by a number on one of these lines. The number shows which fret is pressed. In the following example, a C note is played by plucking the 3rd fret of the 5th string:
e---------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------------------------------- A-----3---------------------------------------------------- E----------------------------------------------------------
TAB for playing the note: C
Notice that when only one note is played, only hyphens appear above and below the fret plucked.
If multiple strings are played at the same time, such as when playing the A Major chord, the numbers are stacked, like this:
e---------------------------------------------------------- B------3--------------------------------------------------- G------3--------------------------------------------------- D------3--------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------------------------------- E----------------------------------------------------------
TAB for playing an A Major chord
Sometimes you don't strum the low-E, or A strings when playing an open chord. You show this in guitar TAB by placing an x on the string (see the Silent Night example, below).
Riffs, runs, or chord progressions are easily represented by TAB. First I'll show you the chord progression for the traditional Christmas song Silent Night, then the riff for Day Tripper by The Beatles. I'll used these to discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses of guitar TAB.
C G C
e------------------------------3------3--------------------
B---1------1------1----1--------------------1------1-------
G----------------------------------------------------------
D---2------2------2----2--------------------2------2-------
A---3------3------3----3-------2------2-----3------3-------
E---x------x------x----x-------3------3-----x------x-------
Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm, all is bright.
TAB for Silent Night chords
Repeat 7 times, then shift the pattern & play it on the A string e---------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------------------------------- D--------------2-0----4-----0-2---------------------------- A------------2------2-----2-------------------------------- E---0----3-4-----------------------------------------------
TAB for Day Tripper Riff
Advantages of Guitar TAB
Tab shows you at a glance where to place your fingers. There's no need to figure out the note names or string names. Simply glance at the TAB, place your fingers, and play!
There's no need for special software to read, modify, or write TAB. A simple text editor is all you need. When browsing the Internet, no plug-ins are required to view TAB.
The reader doesn't need to learn standard music notation to understand concepts like "Repeat 7 times", simply write out your instructions in English.
Disadvantages of Guitar TAB
There are no standards for writing TAB. The fact that most people write it the same way is based on learning from others, and wanting others to easily read what you write. Personally, I like this. Changes can be introduced quickly. Some don't like using a system that might appear differently from place to place.
There is no way to indicate strumming patterns or the duration of notes. Take our examples above. If you know these two songs, you can quickly figure out how to play these passages. But imagine that you don't know them. How long do you hold the C chord at the beginning of Silent Night? How long do you play the notes for Day Tripper? The only indication in Silent Night is the inclusion of lyrics. For Day Tripper, the distance between the numbers gives you minimal information about note duration, but you could never reproduce the riff if you didn't hear someone else play it.
You don't get all the standard information that comes with music notation, such as Key, time signature, tempo, loudness, or style. The author may write them in as additional information, but there is no guarantee that it will be given to you.
Guitar TAB Reference
I've tried to document the most common TAB notations and conventions. However, since there are no standards, you may find other symbols and uses of those listed here.
Symbol Meaning Example Note
------ --------- ------- ---------------------------------------
b Bend b7(8) Bend the string until it sounds like
the pitch of the indicated fret
h Hammer-On h5 Rap your fingertip down to at the fret
p Pull-Off p5 'Strum' the string with the fingertip
of your fretboard hand
PM Palm Mute PM The strumming hand muffles the strings
s Slide 8s9 Play the note at the 8th fret, then
slide your finger up to the 9th fret
Both notes and the slide are audible.
/ Slide Up /9 Slide up to the ninth fret. Where you
start is up to you
Slide Down 8 Slide down to the 8th fret. Where you
start is up to you
T tap T Tap the string with a finger of your
strumming hand to sound the note
v Vibrato v7 Vary the pitch slightly by wiggling
your fretboard hand
~ Vibrato ~~ When used like this, the "~" is often
written above the TAB to indicate about
how long the vibrato lasts
x Mute x Use your fretboard hand to muffle the
strings
<> Harmonic <7> Play the harmonic (place your fingertip
at the indicated fret and apply very
light pressure as you pluck the string
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