How to Read Guitar Tabs
If you’ve ever looked up how to play a certain song on the guitar, you probably found something called guitar tabs, also known as tablature, that looks like this:At first glance, it looks sort of like sheet music, but with numbers instead of notes. Tabs are specifically for string instruments, like guitar, bass, or ukulele.
If you look carefully, you’ll see that the tab is actually just a diagram of the fingerboard of the guitar. Each line represents a string and each number represents a fret. The letters along the left side are the names of the strings. The highest string is at the top and the lowest string is at the bottom. To get oriented, it helps to imagine it as a diagram of your fretboard as if you were looking down while you play, with the low E closest your body and the high E closest to your feet.
Each number is the fret where your finger should be so you play the correct note. 0 means it’s an open string. If the notes are stacked on top of each other, like this:
then that means that those notes should be played at the same time, like a chord. The sequence of notes and/or chords is read left to right. Since standard guitar tabs don’t denote rhythm, you’ll still need to work out the strumming pattern by ear. It’s much easier to learn when you have the notes laid out for you, though!
As you look through different tabs, you might find some other symbols other than numbers. Here’s a quick guide to additional tab notation:
h – hammer on
p – pull off
b – string bend
/ – slide up
\ – slide down
v – vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
* – harmonic (play the note without pressing down, just lightly put your finger on it)
PM – palm muting (also written as _ or .)
·/. – pick slide
How to Read a Chord Chart
Chord charts are similar to guitar tabs, but with a few notable differences.
The fingerboard on a chord chart is oriented as if the head of the guitar is pointed up and you are looking at it head-on. Each vertical line represents a string. Open strings are either left blank or noted with an O. Don’t strum any string that’s marked with an X – that means it’s muted in that chord.
The thick black bar at the top represents the nut of the guitar, and each horizontal line represents a fret. If the chord is further up on the fingerboard, then there will be a number on the left side of the chord chart indicating the starting fret.
The black dots show your finger placements. In this example, the numbers along the bottom represent which finger should be on each string (your pointer finger is 1 and your pinky is 4). Some chord diagrams put the finger number inside the dot, and others won’t have finger numbers at all.
To show the difference in chord charts and guitar tabs, here’s an example of the same chord in each notation system:
If you are still having trouble understanding guitar tabs or chord charts, you might want to look into taking a few guitar lessons. Your teacher will be happy to help!