How Do I Read Guitar Tabs?

What are tabs / What is a tablature?

Since guitarists are generally too lazy to learn sheet music, tablature has been able to establish itself very well. Instead of learning to read sheet music, we can easily transcribe or have everything transcribed into tabs, allowing us to read almost any song without knowledge of sheet music.

In essence, tabs are not inherently bad. However, official sheet music (such as that found on sites like Musicnotes.com or Sheetmusicplus.com) usually doesn’t include tabs. Therefore, it doesn’t hurt to at least master the basics of reading sheet music on the guitar. With my students, for example, I always have them learn a melody with tabs, but eventually, the sheet music no longer includes tabs, and they have to figure out how a certain part is played based on the sheet music. So, it can indeed work to memorize the notes and where they are played using tabs.

To read this ‘type’ of notation on the guitar, a few basic concepts are needed.

Reading Tabs

In an older blog post -> How do I tune a guitar? <- we already discussed what the fretboard looks like on a diagram. Like the image below:

In this diagram, you can see that the thickest string (at the bottom) is the low E string. And at the top is the high E string. It’s the same with tabs.

At the bottom, the low string (I know, even though it can be confusing), and at the top, the high string.

The tabs look something like this:

Unlike a regular musical staff, tabs have 6 lines, whereas traditional notation has only 5.

What do the numbers on the tabs mean?

Now, let’s get to the part where we understand what the numbers mean.

If, as in the example above, there is a number “1” on the bottom line, we press down with one finger on the first fret of the low E string (!Caution! Low E string).

With the right hand, we only play this one low E string. So, don’t play all the strings or any other string. Only the one that is actually pressed down by the left hand.

After that, we release this finger and press down on the exact same string, this time on the 3rd fret. So, we have played the first fret once and the 3rd fret once, separately.

We do the same thing again, but with the 0 (zero, empty, open string) fret. Now, the string changes. So, we do not press down anything, because there is a “0”, but we play the A string (if you don’t know where the A string is, check the example diagram right under “Reading Tabs”) without pressing anything with the left hand at all.

And so on.

Multiple Notes Together

The same applies for multiple notes played simultaneously. If, for example, there is a notes one below the other (not next to each other), it means that you play the notes stacked vertically together.

To summarize briefly:

1. The low E string is not played since there is no number there. So, we don’t press it with either the left or right hand.
2. The A string is pressed down on the 3rd fret.
3. The D string is pressed down on the 2nd fret (all at the same time, don’t forget).
4. The G string is not pressed with the left hand at all (0 means we play the string with the right hand but don’t press it).
5. Then, the B (or B string) is pressed down on the 1st fret.
6. Finally, the high E string is not pressed but still played.

At first, it can be challenging to recognize a pattern in the tabs. However, with a practiced eye, one can immediately see a C chord, a G chord, and a D chord in the examples below. =)”

Special Characters

Now, let’s conclude and discuss the special characters and what they mean:

Tie

If there are 2 notes in the notation (the upper part in this image), but only 1 in the tabs, a ‘tie’ is indicated. This means that you play the note in the 5th fret, but not twice. So, you combine the two notes.

Each of the two notes is 1/4 in duration. Therefore, 1/4 + 1/4 = 2/4. You count 1 (play the note), 2 (let the note ring), 3 (don’t play anything), 4 (still don’t play anything).

(If you have no idea how long 1/4 is, feel free to check it out under notes and rest values.)

Up-, and Downstrokes

A very, very important topic! If you’re playing with a pick, these symbols indicate whether you should strike the string (on the right hand) from top to bottom or from bottom to top.

Legato

In legato on the guitar, you play the notes using hammer-ons and pull-offs. So, the notes within this “bow” are not picked with the right hand.

In this example, you play the first 5, but you don’t pick the 7, and you don’t pick the second 5. You do everything with the left hand only. Then, on the next string, you pick the 5 again, but you don’t pick the one that follows.

H = Hammer On
P = Pull Off

Slide

Here, you slide from the 5th fret to the 7th fret. So, you play the 5th fret for 1/4 duration, and then slide up to the 7th fret without releasing the note.

We do the same thing here, but on the other side. Slide down from the 7th fret to the 5th fret (without releasing the string).

This example is a combination of the previous two examples. Here, you slide down first, and then slide back up. We actually do this more often than one might think. :P

Bendings

There are thousands of tutorials on bendings available online, so I won’t go into further detail here. Play the 5th fret on the high E (or B) string, preferably using the third finger of the left hand. Place the index and middle fingers in front of it to apply more force. Then, raise the pitch of the string by a whole tone.
If it should be more or less than a whole tone, it would be indicated.

Vibrato

Vibrato is a significant aspect for every guitarist. But here, you should better listen to B.B. King or Yngwie Malmsteen’s vibratos.
Or listen to the Story of Paul Gilberts “Vibrato” Song (great Song by the way).

Arpeggiated

Here, you play from top to bottom (or bottom to top, depending on which is which for you), but very slowly. So, you don’t just strike the chord quickly but take about 1 second for it (of course, it depends on how fast the song is).
So instead of playing it as Chord like; Rrrinng it should sounds more like a Bbbbbbrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnggggg.
I dont know if this example helps though! :P

Same as the example above, but from bottom to top.