How To Read Tabs & Play Your Favourite Songs

Tablature is a way of indicating the positioning of notes and fingering on the guitar
fret board.

If you can read tabs, you will be able to play any of your favorites songs.

Aside from traditional music theory, tabs are among the easiest methods to
playing your favorite songs... quickly!

Basic Tab Lines

There are 6 tab lines representing 6 strings on the guitar. (The 1st string
is the thinnest, and the 6th string is the thickest).

E----------------------------- String 1 Thinnest

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

• The string at the top is the thickest - 6th string

• The string at the bottom is the thinnest - 1st string (as shown in
diagram below)

Number is placed with examples

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

Example 1:

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)

Example 2:

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)

Example 3:

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

This indicates:
5th Fret, 3rd string, then
6th Fret, 2nd string, then
an open 4th string.

Example 4:

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.

Tab Symbols
There are tab symbols that you need to know before you want to learn a
song in tab format. They are:

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 fingers.

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.

When you see other tabs that have "pO"

E--------------------------------String 1
B--------------------------------String 2
G--------------------------------String 3
D--------------------------------String 4
A---------9pO7-----------12pO10--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.

ADDITIONAL TIP

Tabs are mainly a few lines with numbers on them. Once you know the
basic positioning of where your fingers go, you are able to get a good feel
for the song. Tabs are an easy way to read music and play a particular
song. Proper music notation is more detailed and requires more study into
it, however if all you want to do is play your favorite song, tabs are just
as easy in the end.

GLOSSARY

Hammer On is produced by hitting a note first, before

h
sliding your finger to another fret while the string is still
ringing out.

Pull off is the same as a hammer on - but instead of placing

p our fingers onto the string, we are TAKING OUR FINGERS
OFF the string, after striking it.

Bends are relatively easy to perform. Bends are shown in

many different symbols. The b and ^ are common symbols
used for bends. The ( ) usually contain a number in between
b and tell the player to bend to that note. Notes without ( )
usually have the note to be bent to next to the original note.

A bend is carried out by bending the string up on the guitar

to produce a sound similar to that of the fret noted on the
 tab.

A release is done by picking the note in its bent position, but

r letting go of the string so that it can return to its normal
pitch.

The symbol \ signifies a slide down the neck, while / signifies

/ or \
a slide up the neck. The notes are picked in the order in
which they appear from left to right.

If you continue to hold the fret down after the slide, or even
v or ~ after picking any random note, it will cause the note to ring.
This effect is called vibrato which is fluctuating the pitch of a
note.

t
Tapping is where you tap the string repeatedly.

Gently rest a finger of your left hand over the indicated string
x
or strings, and then strum. This will produce a dull, almost
scratchy sound.

How To Hold Chords A, B & C

There are 7 main chords you must learn in order to play the guitar. They are A, B,
C, D, E, F & G.

Today we'll just cover A, B and C.

Later on we'll cover D, E F & G.

Let's represent each finger with a number. So in the following diagrams of chords,
place each number on the appropriate strings as shown below.

Once you place your fingers in the spots as shown, brush down on the strings near
the sound hole or the body.

Can you hear every string? Are they ringing clearly or are they are muffled mess?
If it sounds jumbled, adjust your fingers so they press down correctly.

Side Note: The "o" represented in the diagram means that the string is to be
played OPEN. Whereas the "x" means not to play the string at all. I.e. mute it, or
try not to strike it when you are strumming the chord.

CHORD A MAJOR

left handed players right handed players

CHORD B MAJOR

left handed players right handed players

CHORD C MAJOR
 left handed players

right handed players

How To Hold Chords D, E, F & G

Continuing on from the previous lesson, today we'll cover the final chords of D, E F
& G.

As usual, let's represent each finger with a number. So in the following diagrams
of chords, place each number on the appropriate strings as shown below.

Once you place your fingers in the spots as shown, brush down on the strings near
the sound hole or the body.

Can you hear every string? Are they ringing clearly or are they are muffled mess?
If it sounds jumbled, adjust your fingers so they press down correctly.

Side Note: The "o" represented in the diagram means that the string is to be
played OPEN. Whereas the "x" means not to play the string at all. I.e. mute it, or
try not to strike it when you are strumming the chord.

CHORD D MAJOR

left handed players right handed players

CHORD E MAJOR

left handed players right handed players

CHORD F MAJOR

left handed players right handed players

CHORD G MAJOR
 left handed players

right handed players

What Is A Note?

This lesson will cover some basic music theory.

Before we begin to dig into the heart of music theory and reading music, it is
essential for us to first understand where all of these "notes" come from and how
they are represented.

This will be the foundation for more complicated lessons to follow.

What is a Note?

A note is simply a way of representing a musical sound.

Symbols are used to represent these notes which tells us the duration
(length) that the given note is held for and when placed on a staff, it will
tell us the pitch of that sound.

Pitch is a way of describing how high or how low something sounds.

A great example of this is a high pitched scream a horror movie. It hurts

our ears because it sounds extremely high.

An example of a low pitch would be a truck rumbling along on your street.

Notes can be compared to the road signs you see when driving along in
your community.

They tell you what to do, or in this case play, and they will give you
 directions.

Notes have various shapes and stems coming from them but generally look
like little round/oval dots.

How is a note named?

Notes are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet and are as
follows:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G

..After the G, you will start again at A. The cycle will then begin to repeat
itself from the beginning:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A...

.. You may be wondering why we have two notes that are named A. The
reason that they are both named A is that they sound alike, even though
they are higher and lower than one another.

All of these notes have different pitches, meaning that some sound higher,
while others sound lower. This is the glue that makes music work.

What Is A Staff & What Is Its Use?

Here's a quick lesson on Music Theory.

It is important to know because when you start getting into sheet music, writing
your own music or simply learning a popular song by book - having a thorough
understanding makes it a whole lot easier!

For now, let's cover some basics...

What Is A Staff?
A staff is not unlike a bulletin board in a police station that tells the
officers who the criminals are. It holds all of the critical information that is
needed for you to play music on your instrument. Consider it the notepad
of the music world where all of our ideas are written down.

Literally everything you need to do to play music will involve using the
staff in some form. The staff (also known as stave) consists of five lines
and four spaces. In its simplest form, it looks like the following:

The staff also has a few more key features that stand out. First off, you
will observe a number of lines running vertically through the staff
throughout a piece of music. They can be viewed as the walls that
separate the music into smaller chunks. These "Walls" are called bar
lines.

Bar lines help us keep our rhythm and make the music easier to read and
understand. The space between two bar lines is called a measure. When
the music ends, it will tell you by showing a thick double bar line. If there
is a thin double bar line, it simply marks the end of a section, so you
continue to play.

Here is an image that illustrates the different parts of the staff:

What Is A Clef?

Instruments are amazing tools to play notes with, but rarely will any be
able to play all of the notes that exists on the staff. The exception is the
piano, which has the largest range. The biggest problem is that some
notes are simply to low in pitch to fit on the staff!

The lower the note, the lower it sits when placed on the staff. The
opposite happens for higher pitched notes and they move higher up on
the staff. With all of these notes available to us, we have a problem... we
run out of space. Clefs were formed to separate music into the low notes
and the high notes. These two clefs are called treble clef and bass clef.

Treble clef, also known as G clef, caters to the higher pitched instruments.
Electric and acoustic players always play in treble clef because it fits in all
of their notes.

Bass clef, also known as F clef, is used for all of the really low notes. Bass
guitarists play with this clef.

The piano uses both treble clef and bass clef so it can play its full range of
notes. This is the exception because instruments pick one clef based on
how low or high the notes sound.

There are other clefs used in music but they don't apply to us
 Interested In Music Theory?

Learn more about music theory at a brand new Guitar Theory site over at
www.GuitarTheory.com.au where the lessons in this PDF are courtesy of.

You'll go behind the scenes and find out what makes up music and the
theory behind it all, including

• Sharps
• Flats
• Dynamics
• Rests
• Beats
• Tempo's
• Modes
• Transposition

... and a whole lot more.

Also, don’t forget to visit our websites for lots of resources and info:

MusicRVA.com MusicRVA Blog

MusicRVA Forum MusicRVA Writers Blog

Sojournstar Music Blog

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