SoapGun's Lesson's

Tablature or Tab for short, is a system to write down musical riff's made for the guitar and bass. This reference will focus on the type of tablature that is found on the Internet. While Internet tablature has many things in common with tabs found in magazines and books, there are many differences as well.

Lines in tablature

Tablature for a standard 6 string guitar will consist of 6 lines, one for each string of the guitar.

                    E:---------------------------------------- --> 1st string
                  B:---------------------------------------- --> 2nd string
                  G:---------------------------------------- --> 3rd string
                  D:---------------------------------------- --> 4th string
                  A:---------------------------------------- --> 5th string
                  E:---------------------------------------- --> 6th string

Some tablature will have 7 lines if a 7-string guitar is being used, or 4 or 5 lines for bass. But all of the examples in this reference will be for a standard 6 string guitar.

The bottom line in tablature will represent the 6th string of the guitar. The 6th string is the thickest, lowest sounding, and closest to the ceiling if you are holding the guitar in playing position. The top line in tablature will represent the 1st string. This is the thinnest, highest sounding, and closest to the floor.

E:-----1st string---- --> thinnest.highest sounding.closest to te floor
B:-----2nd string----
G:-----3rd string----
D:-----4th string----
A:-----5th string----
E:-----6th string---- --> thickest...lowest sounding....closest to the ceiling

Numbers in tablature

The numbers in tablature represents the frets where you will place your left hand fingers.

For example: 3 means the third fret. So you would press down the string just to the left of the 3rd fret bar. (See picture above) A 0 (zero) would mean that you play that string open (not pressing down the string with your left hand).

3rd fret open string
| |
E:-------3------------0---------- -->1st string
B:-------------------------------
G:-------------------------------
D:-------------------------------
A:-------------------------------
E:------------------------------- -->6th string

The order that the notes are played

Tablature is read from left to right. If you see something like the example below, just play the notes in the order that you see them.

Here is how you would play the example below

first you play the 5th string...7th fret
then the 4th string...5th fret
then 4th string...7th fret
then 3rd string...5th fret
then 4th string...7th fret

E:----------------------- -->1st string
B:-----------------------
G:--------------5--------
D:--------5--7-----7-----
A:-----7-----------------
E:----------------------- -->6th string

More that one note played at the same time

When you see 2 or more numbers stacked up on top of each other, you will play the notes at the same time. So in the example below you would play the 1st string...5th fret, and the 2nd string...5th fret at the same time.
E:----5------------------ -->1st string
B:----5------------------
G:-----------------------
D:-----------------------
A:-----------------------
E:----------------------- -->6th string

What fingers to use

Tablature does not indicate what finger you should use to play each note. You will have to make that decision on your own. But as a general guide, think about this. You have 4 fingers, use one finger per fret in a 4 fret area. So if you have something like the example below, use your 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers.

5th fret---1st finger
6th fret ---2nd finger
7th fret ---3rd finger
8th fret---4th finger

E:----5--6--7--8--------- -->1st string
B:-----------------------
G:-----------------------
D:-----------------------
A:-----------------------
E:----------------------- -->6th string

Keep in mind that this is a very general guideline, and not everything is as clear cut as the above example.

Hope you understand now.


				*SoapGun's Lesson's*



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