Guitar tabs or tablature is a method of writing music notations that are played on guitars. Rather than use symbols like the ones you find in standard notation, tabs use numbers and characters. This makes it very easy to read and share music. Tabs use the fretboard of the guitar as the basic background to show you the notes. Even if you don’t know how to read guitar tablature, it is extremely easy to learn in a very short time. We find thousands of tablature online. By knowing the basics, you can easily interpret all your favorite songs and play them to your heart’s content.
How Tablature Is Expressed
If we take the six-string guitar as a basis, you will find that its tablature will have six lines, representing each guitar string. Here is how you read it:
E: ———— 1st string
B: ———— 2nd string
G: ———— 3rd string
D: ———— 4th string
A: ———— 5th string
E: ———— 6th string
What do you think the tabs will be for a 7-string guitar? 7 lines! For a bass guitar, depending on number of strings, you will find 4 or 5 lines. The line at the bottom is the 6th string of the guitar, which is the thickest and has the lowest note. Suppose you are holding your guitar in the playing position, the 6th string will be at the top. In tablature, the line at the top is the 1st string, which is the thinnest and sounds the highest. In playing position this is the string nearest the floor.
The numbers that you see in tablature indicate the frets on which your left hand fingers are to be placed. Tablature is usually read from the left to the right. You wont find tablature telling you which finger to use when you play a note. That is something that you must choose.
How Tablature Helps
The basics of tablature lets you play plenty of music since it tells you which notes are to be played and which string and fret to use. You also know which techniques to use, like vibrato, hammer on, pull off, bends etc. It also indicates the tuning note.
When you compare standard music notation to guitar tablature, tabs have some shortcomings. Guitar tabs don’t express rhythm. Also, you cannot see the length of a note in tablature. You can use guitar tabs only on fretted string instruments. On the other hand, in standard notation, it is not possible to see which position to play in. above all, it is far easier to learn guitar tabs than standard notation. Therefore, you will often find a combination of guitar tablature and standard notation, so that you can use notation to read rhythm and the tabs to figure out the notes.