Explanation:
Tab (Tablature) or Tab notation is an easy way to read and notate guitar music.
It is commonly used for notating rock, blues, country and pop music. Whereas standard notation is more used for classical music, film scores and jazz music.
Tab is widely transcribed and used by guitar players on the internet but it also published in official guitar books (which is often more accurate).
It is especially designed for fretted stringed instruments like guitar and bass, while standard notation is arranged for all instruments. There are some pros and cons for each notation method.
When you’re learning music from tabs you can not just plainly rely on the tab notation. You need to listen to the song first, because the tab doesn’t indicate note lengths, pauses, rhythm and dynamics.
To know how long or loud each note is being played you need to use your ears and listen to the song. Train your ears because they are your most essential tools while reading and learning from tabs.
We focus here on Tab because of it’s convenient pros. Tab is easy to read and it gives you the exact fret numbers and strings you need to play.
TAB STAFF
There are two kind of tabs. Formal tab and internet tab (the latter is designed to make tab writing easy on websites and blogs)
Tab has six horizontal lines. Each one represents a string on the guitar. The top line is the thinnest string called the high e-string or 1st string. Next comes the B-string also called 2nd string, then the G-string or 3rd string, D-string (4th string), A-string (5th string) and finally the low E-string (6th string) on the lowest line which is the thickest string on your guitar.
remember: The thickest string on your guitar (6th string) is the lowest string/line in the tab notation!
Internet tab:
e:|
B:|
G:|
D:|
A:|
E:|
Formal tab:
FRET NUMBERS
The numbers on the lines indicate the fret numbers and so what fret you have to play. In the example below you first see an "0" on the D-string (you read tab from left to right). "0" means an open string. So you play an open string D-string, then you put your finger on the 2nd fret and pick the D-string, next play the 4th fret D-string and finally the 5th fret D-string.
e:|
B:|
G:|
D:--0--2--4--5|
A:|
E:|
CHORDS
When notes are stacked vertically on top of each other it means that all notes are played at the same time. In the example below you put one finger on the 3rd fret low E-string (lowest line), another finger on the 2nd fret A-string and one finger on the 3rd fret high e-string (top line). The other lines are open strings.
You play/strum all six strings simultaneously. If you already know how to play chords you'll notice this is a G major chord. Chords are indicated as notes stacked on top of each other.
Tip: Knowing your chords makes tab chords easier to read and decipher.
e:3|
B:0|
G:0|
D:0|
A:2|
E:3|
MUTES
The chord in the example below above is a C chord. Notice the "x" on the 6th string. This indicates that this string must not be played.
A single "x" indicates a "mute". In the example you put your finger on the D-string pressing it really gentle/soft (almost not pressing) then pick the string so it leaves no sound. The note is muted.
Several x's stacked on top of each other indicates a "rake"
e:0|
B:1x|
G:0xx|
D:2x|
A:3x|
E:x|
Have fun playing guitar with tab!
