Guitar · Chapter 4 of 23

Reading Tab

Tab is the guitarist’s shorthand: it shows which string to play and which fret to press. Most guitar music you will find is written this way.

Tablature, or tab, draws the six strings as six horizontal lines. A number on a line tells you which fret to press on that string. 0 means the open string.

Lines and numbers

The top line is string 1

The top line is the thin high E string; the bottom line is the thick low E. It looks upside down at first: imagine looking down at the strings from above, with the guitar on your lap.

Numbers are frets

A 3 on the second line from the top means: string 2, 3rd fret. Read from left to right like words. Numbers stacked in a column are played together, as a chord.

Rhythm below

Our tab shows the rhythm with stems under the numbers, like notes in standard notation: a plain stem is a quarter note, one beam joins eighth notes, a hollow mark is a half note.

Here is a short piece of tab: the first notes of “Ode to Joy” on strings 1 and 2. Above it is the same music in standard notation. Press Play and watch each number light up as it sounds.

Read it as: string 1 open, open, 1st fret, 3rd fret; then 3rd, 1st, open, and string 2 at the 3rd fret… The fretboard under the player shows where each note is.

Guitar notation sounds an octave lower. In standard notation, guitar music is written an octave higher than it sounds, so it fits on the treble staff. The small 8 under the treble clef says so. (If you read music from the piano lessons, the notes look familiar; they just sound an octave lower.)

Signs you will meet

In tab	Meaning
x	a muted note: touch the string so it makes a dull click, or don’t play that string in a chord
an arc marked H	hammer-on: pluck one note, then press a higher fret hard enough to sound the next note without plucking
an arc marked P	pull-off: the opposite, pull the finger off to sound a lower note
a slanting line	slide: keep pressing and slide the finger to the next fret number
a curved arrow (full or ½)	bend: push the string sideways to raise the note a whole step or a half step
<12>	a natural harmonic: touch the string lightly over that fret and pluck
(3)	a tied note: it keeps ringing from before; don’t pluck it again

You will learn each of these when a song needs it.

Chords in tab

A column of numbers is a chord. This is a G chord followed by a C chord, each strummed once, then their notes played one at a time:

Left-handed? Tab is the same for everyone: the top line is always string 1, the thin high string, however you hold the guitar. The left-handed switch mirrors chord diagrams and fretboards, but not tab.

Try it. Play the Ode to Joy tab above on your guitar, slowly, saying each string and fret out loud (“one-open, one-open, one-one, one-three”). Then play it along with the player at a slower tempo.

Remember

Six lines = six strings; the top line is string 1.
Numbers are frets; 0 is open; a column is a chord.
Rhythm is shown with stems under the tab, and in the notation above it.