Music For Me

Some kind of Basic Technique Guitar Learning
by johan somatriani
Tablature / Tab Guitar

Tablature or guitar tabs are easy to read and should be easy to write if you want to send (submit) a song that you have done himself. The idea is this:

Start with 6 lines (or four for bass). This relates to the strings of the instrument. The topmost line is the highest string. and the line underneath the lower strings. Below is a blank bit of the tab with the name of the string on the left.


E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
B ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
G ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
D ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
A ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------


The numbers are written on the line to indicate the fret where the string
with his left hand. If a zero appears, this means playing with string
open. Like standard musical notation, you read from left to right to find out what order to play the notes. Part of the following tabs have the meanings play a series of notes (EFF # GG # A) on the bottom E string by moving up a fret, starting with the string open.


E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
B ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
G ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
D ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
A ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
E --- 0-1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 ------------------------------ ---------------


OK so far?

Here are the notes that are played simultaneously. If two or more notes to be played together, they are written on top of one another, again just like standard notation.

The following example we have a beam Kord G.

E ---- 3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
B ---- 3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
G ---- 4 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
D ---- 5 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
A ---- 5 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
E ---- 3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------


So this means play all these notes together as a chord.

You might see the same chord written like this:

E -------- 3 ---------------------------------------- ----------------
B ------- 3 ----------------------------------------- ----------------
G ------ 4 ------------------------------------------ ----------------
D ----- 5 ------------------------------------------- ----------------
A ---- 5 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
E --- 3 --------------------------------------------- ----------------


Which means the ring with the same shape starting from the lowest string, so that each string is hit slightly later than the last string, but all notes will ring together. Below is an example again with the same shape, but with a slightly greater distance - so you may need to strum the strings separately instead of slowly tolling.


E ------------------ 3 ------------------------------ ----------------
B --------------- 3 ----- 3 --------------------------- -----------------
G ------------ 4 ----------- 4 ------------------------ -----------------
D --------- 5 ----------------- 5 --------------------- -----------------
A ------ 5 ----------------------- 5 ------------------ ----------------
E --- 3 ----------------------------- 3 --------------- -----------------


You may ask
- How do I know how fast or slow to play?
- Are all notes should have the same length?


This is different from the standard notation tab. Most of the Tab "no" will tell you the length of the note. Usually it is up to you to listen to the song to get rhythm.

However - do not be disappointed. Tab should give an indication of timing. In the example above all the notes are evenly spaced so you can make the assumption that the notes are the same length (maybe all eighth notes or quavers) but this is not always true - it depends on who wrote the tab.

As a general rule, the distance from the notes on tab should tell you what notes are long and which are short and rapid, but usually will not tell you if a note is a triplet or anything like that. Again, this will depend on the person who wrote the tab.

For example, here are some notes from America's National Song in Tab. You certainly can see clearly that the difference in distance depending on the note lengths.

E ----------------------- 0 -------- 4 - 2-0 ----------- ---------------
B --- 0 -------------- 0 ------------------------------ --- 0 -----------
G ------ 1 ------ 1 ---------------------------- 1 ---- 3- ---------------
D -------- 2 ---------------------------------------- ---------------
A ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------


Usually it's easier to play tabs of songs you already know better than songs that you've never heard because it will be more familiar with the rhythm of the song is already known.