How to Read Guitar Tab

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The following is for someone who has no idea how to read guitar tablature. If you are already familiar with the concept, then you might just want to play through the examples for ideas, or skip to another section altogether.

Let's begin

Now, let's learn about one of the greatest discoveries for guitar players ever...GUITAR TABLATURE! Also called TAB. With it, we guitar players don't need to go through the pain of learning standard music notation. And the idea is sooo simple, I'm sure you'll have no problem picking it up by the end of this page.

Above you see a diagram of a guitar neck compared with blank guitar tablature. Notice the similarities. The tablature looks just like the guitar neck with the frets removed. In fact, that's just the way you should look at it! Each horizontal line on the tablature represents a string on the guitar. Numbers are placed on the horizontal "strings" of the tab that tell you which fret you'll be placing your finger on! It's that easy!

Look at the following example

The number 3 on the high E string tells you to press a finger down on the 3rd fret of the high E string and play that note.

Note: The frets are technically the straight metal pieces that are placed perpendicular to the strings at regular intervals, however, in this course (as in most guitar literature) we will use the term fret to refer to the space between the frets, which is actually where you press down to finger the notes. So if I say place your finger on the third fret, I really mean to press down on the string just behind the third fret (between the second and third frets).

Let's try another example

Play these numbers from left to right. For now, just do them in whatever timing you want. Each line represents a particular string. Each number is on a particular line, meaning that number belongs on that string. That number tells you exactly which fret to place your finger on that string!

The first note is on the 5th fret of the high E string. The second note is on the 8th fret of the B string (or second string). The third note is again on the 5th fret, but now on the B string. The fourth note is on the 7th fret of the G string (the third string). And the final note is on the 5th fret of the high E string. The last note is the same as the first.

The numbers below the tablature are fingering suggestions for your left hand (or for your right hand, if you're left-handed). They are just suggestions. For now, it doesn't really matter which fingers you use as long as you understand the use of the tablature.

Left hand fingers

This picture shows how the left-hand fingering numbers work (especially after you're dead). The thumb is indicated as a "T" and the fingers are numbered from left to right. However, you won't see any "T's" here because the thumb is not used in any of these examples. In fact, use of the thumb for fretting notes is pretty rare.

This is what these notes look like on the guitar. Play them and you should have the same thing.

Let's try another example

Notice that the first note is a zero on the A string. It means this string is to be played without pressing on any fret. It's called an open string. The rest of the notes are played in the same fashion as the previous example. The numbers on the strings tell you which fret to play on that string, and the numbers are played in succession from left to right. The numbers below the tab suggest which fingers to use.

Notating chords with tablature

Chords can be notated in the same fashion. Look at the next diagram:

Notice that each of these groups are lined up on the same spot. This means they are intended to be played at the same time. You finger all the notes in a particular group and then play all the guitar strings at once. I wrote the names of these very common major chords above the tab.

The A and C chords have no number written on the low E string. This is because that string is not intended to sound. Sometimes an X is written on the string to make sure you know to keep that string "dead".

The next diagrams show what these same chords look like on the guitar:

E	G	A	C

Power chords

These are all called "Power Chords". They sound great on an electric guitar with the distortion on and the volume up.

To learn more about this topic, see my page on Power Chords.

A minor Pentatonic

Below we have a diagram of a guitar fretboard with dots showing where the notes of the A minor Pentatonic scale are located at the fifth fret (also called the fifth position). Don't let the name scare you -- "A minor Pentatonic" is just a name, like shoe.

In fact, despite the fancy shmancy name, the minor Pentatonic scale is one of the easiest and definitely the most commonly used scales in music today.

And next we have the tablature representation of the same scale ascending. It's the same as playing the previous example from low notes to high notes.

Play through the two examples seperately and, hopefully, you'll come up with the same thing.

The minor Pentatonic scale is, far and away, the most common scale in Rock 'n Roll and the Blues. It is most often used in the keys of A and E since these are so accomodating for the guitar. The key of E especially allows you to put all of the open strings to good use.

Left hand technique

Let's dip into the question of left hand technique. Here we have a guitar neck with our boney hand showing how to direct your fingers:

If you let each finger control a separate fret (across all six strings), you'll be making very efficient use of your hand. You should approach chord playing this way as well as lead playing. It will help you find the right placement for your hand.

Notice that the index finger is poised to control all the notes that occur at the fifth fret (across all six strings). The middle finger takes all the notes that happen at the sixth fret. The ring finger gets the seventh fret and the pinky handles the eighth.

There will be times when you have to break this rule, especially with chord playing, but this is the way to go whenever possible.

Practice riffs

Next, we have some examples from the Classic Rock arena. These are all riffs that should be familiar to you, so hopefully the timing won't be a big issue.

Let's try a riff from Heart's "Crazy on You".

How about Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"?

Try the Beatle's "Paperback Writer". The curves lines mean that you finger the first note and "hammer on" to get the second note. A "hammer on" means you slam down with another finger hard enough to make it sound, instead of picking with your right hand.

Here's an example from the realm of classical guitar. It's the beginning of "Leyenda" by Issac Albeniz.

In closing

You can see this system works out great for everything except the timing (or feeling) of the riffs. For that, you'll need to listen to the piece you're trying to figure out. But, once you know where to put your fingers, and you know what it supposed to sound like, it's pretty easy to put it together.