GUITAR TABLATURES HOW TO

If you’re learning “Wonderwall” (you know you want to), you’ll see multiple numbers stacked-one on each line.

GUITAR TABLATURES HOW TO

Playing chords using tabs: In addition to playing single notes and riffs, tablature can also be used to show you how to play a chord. If you’re playing a melody, like the riff of “ Ring of Fire” shown above, you’ll see one number at a time, left to right.

As you read and play the tabs from left to right, you begin to string together the song (pun intended). The second note is the 1st fret on the 5th string. In the example above, the first note is the 0 fret on the 5th string (a 0 means that you play the open string). Playing single notes and riffs in tablature: Each number on a line represents which fret you should play on that specific string. In standard tuning, the lines of tabs represent these notes:

In standard tuning, they represent the high E and low E notes, respectively: The top line is the 1st string and the bottom line is the 6th string. The lines in a tab represent the strings on a guitar. For this post, we’ll show you two guitar tabs as examples, but keep in mind that the same principles apply to reading bass tabs (you just have fewer strings to worry about!). There are a few basic components to tabs, which we’ll cover here. If you’re familiar with guitar chord charts, they are really similar. Tabs make it quick and easy to learn songs by telling you which strings to pluck and which frets to place your fingers on. Tabs, short for tablature, are shorthand charts that document music for stringed, fretted instruments like guitar and bass.

Guitar tablatures