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Introduction to Guitar Tab

A tab consists of 6 lines. Each line representing a guitar string. At the beginning of each line are letters which represent which string is what. For example, the top string is the high E string and the second to bottom string is the A string. Place your guitar on your lap with the strings facing towards the ceiling. This is how a tab looks.


e:---------------------------|
B:---------------------------|
G:---------------------------|
D:---------------------------|
A:---------------------------|
E:---------------------------|

By adding numbers to the tab, we have information on where to fret with the left hand. For example, a 1 would represent the first fret, a 2 would represent the 2nd fret, ect. A 0 would represent an open string.

e:---------------------------|
B:---------------------------|
G:---------------------------|
D:---------------------------|
A:---------------------------|
E:-0-1-2-3-4-----------------|


The above tab asks you to only play the Low E string, starting with the open string and then fretting in sequence to the 4th fret.

To represent a chord, we can add notes on top of each other. The following are three chords (C Major, G Major and D Major).

e:-0----3-----2--------------|
B:-1----3-----3--------------|
G:-0----0-----2--------------|
D:-2----0-----0--------------|
A:-3----2--------------------|
E:------3--------------------|

So far we have a tab which represents what notes to play and where on the neck to play them. However there is no information on WHEN to play them. This is where tab differs from standard notation. Tab is great for finding which notes to play and where to play them on the guitar, but less then accurate in terms of rhythm and when to play those notes.

The basic way of showing rhythm in tab files is to space out the notes. Short spaces would mean the notes are playing relatively close together or one after the other. As the numbers become further apart, so does the duration of those notes become longer.

Again its less then accurate but most tab files you are reading are songs that you have already heard, so you should already have a basic sense of the rhythm anyways.

The following tab is a simple C major chord in open position. Notice the gradual increase in space between each C major chord. Each time the chord is played its duration is doubled.

e:-0-0---0-------0----------|
B:-1-1---1-------1----------|
G:-0-0---0-------0----------|
D:-2-2---2-------2----------|
A:-3-3---3-------3----------|
E:--------------------------|

Tabs will also commonly have lines through the tab that represent bars of music. In the following tab, each bar represents 4 beats of music.

We play one chord per bar, and from the spacing between those chords it looks like we should play the chords on beats 1, 3 and 4 but not on beat 2. There are 3 bars, with 3 chords, those chords being C Major, G Major and D Major.

e:-0---0-0-|-3---3-3-|-2---2-2-|
B:-1---1-1-|-3---3-3-|-3---3-3-|
G:-0---0-0-|-0---0-0-|-2---2-2-|
D:-2---2-2-|-0---0-0-|-0---0-0-|
A:-3---3-3-|-2---2-2-|---------|
E:---------|-3---3-3-|---------|

Spacing is also used for durations in single note music. The following is a tab file of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. Notice that there are lines in the tab that clearly define the bars of music, we have numbers telling us what notes to play on the neck and the spacing in between the notes give a fair indication of the duration of the notes.

As well, above the tab, some D's and U's have been added. These indicate when to use down and up strokes with your picking hand. For more information on down and up strokes visit our lesson on basic picking.

   D U D U   D U D     D U D     D U D     D U D U   D U D U  D U D U    D
e:---------|---------|---------|---0-0---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
B:-2-0---0-|-2-2-2---|-0-0-0---|-2-------|-2-0---0-|-2-2-2-2-|-0-0-2-0-|---------|
G:-----2---|---------|---------|---------|-----2---|---------|---------|-0-------|
D:---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
A:---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
E:---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|

You should now have sufficient knowledge and should be able to read basic tabs and get through them just fine. You know how to figure out what notes to play, on which string and fret to play them and a basic framework of how long each note should be.

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