Guide to Reading and Writing Guitar Tablature
HOW TO READ AND WRITE GUITAR TABLATURE
A GUIDE TO GUITAR TABLATURE NOTATION
Originally written by Howard Wright Howard.Wright@ed.ac.uk
(and the olga-grunts)
with additions from TabNabber
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This document may be distributed freely as long as NO CHARGE is made and my name and email address are not removed.
If you want to edit
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tab, in
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Last Updated : 21st February 2008
Reading Tab
Writing Tab
What is Tab
Guitar tab (or tablature) is a method of writing down music played on guitar or bass.
Instead of using symbols like in standard musical notation, it uses ordinary characters and
numbers.
What Tab will tell you
Tab will tell you what notes to play - it will tell you which string to hit
and which fret to fret it at.
Tab will tell you where hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, slides, harmonics and
vibrato are used.
Tab will tell you what string tuning the piece is in. If this isn't given
explicitly, assume normal tuning. Tab should also give you information
on use of capos.
Tab will give you an indication of the rhythm of the piece based on the amount
of space between each note.
What Tab (usually) won't tell you
Tab may not tell you the exact note lengths - so you may have to listen to the song with the
tab in front
of you to work out the rhythm.
Tab may not tell you which fingers you use to fret which note.
Tab may not tell you anything about picking and strumming -
you will have to decide for yourself where to use upstrokes/downstrokes.
[Back To Contents]
Reading Guitar Tablature
Tab notation - the basics
Tab is simple to read and write. The idea is this: Start out with 6 lines (or four for bass). These correspond to the strings
of the instrument. The top line is the highest pitch string, and the bottom
line is the lowest pitch string. Below is a blank bit of tab with the string
names at the left.
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Numbers are written on the lines to show where to fret the string
with the left hand. A zero ("0") means play the open string.
Like standard musical notation, you read from left to right. The following piece of tab would mean
play the sequence of notes (E F F# G G# A) - one at a time - on the bottom E string by
moving up a fret at a time, starting with the open string.
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E---0--1--2--3--4--5---------------------------------------------
 <- Click the play button to hear it!
OK so far? If two or more notes
are to be played together, they are written on top of one another,
again just like standard notation. In the next example we have a G bar chord.
E----3-----------------------------------------------------------
B----3-----------------------------------------------------------
G----4-----------------------------------------------------------
D----5-----------------------------------------------------------
A----5-----------------------------------------------------------
E----3-----------------------------------------------------------
So this means play all these notes together as a chord. The same chord
could be written like this:
E--------3-------------------------------------------------------
B-------3--------------------------------------------------------
G------4---------------------------------------------------------
D-----5----------------------------------------------------------
A----5-----------------------------------------------------------
E---3------------------------------------------------------------
Which would mean strum the same shape starting at the bottom string, so
that each string is hit slightly later than the last string, but all notes
will ring together. Below is an example of the same shape again, but now
the gaps between the notes are bigger - so you would probably pick the
strings separately (instead of slowly strumming the shape).
E------------------3---------------------------------------------
B---------------3-----3------------------------------------------
G------------4-----------4---------------------------------------
D---------5-----------------5------------------------------------
A------5-----------------------5---------------------------------
E---3-----------------------------3------------------------------
You might ask - How do I know how fast or slow to play this ?
Are all the notes supposed to be the same length? In the example above all the notes are evenly spaced so you
can reasonably assume that the notes are the same length (maybe all
eighth notes or quavers). The spacing of the notes on the tab should tell you
which notes are the long ones, and which are the short and fast ones. As an example, here are the first few notes of the American National
Anthem in tab. You should see fairly clearly that the different spacing
corresponds to the different note lengths.
E-----------------------0--------4--2-0--------------------------
B---0--------------0---------------------------------0-----------
G------1------1----------------------------1----3----------------
D--------2-------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Other symbols used in Tab
A lot of other important information can be included in a piece of tab.
This includes hammer-ons, pull offs, slides, bends, vibrato and so on. The standard practice is to write extra letters or symbols between notes
to indicate how to play them. Here are the letters/symbols most
often used :
- h - hammer on
- p - pull off
- b - bend string up
- r - release bend
- / - slide up
- \ - slide down
- v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
- t - right hand tap
- x - play 'note' with heavy damping
For slides, s is sometimes used to indicate either an up or down slide.
Symbols for harmonics are explained below in Section 3.2. That last one, the x, is used to get a choppy, percussive sound.
You usually use your fretting hand to lightly damp the strings so
that when you pick the note it sounds dead.
Note that the use of 'x' is totally different from the use of
an 'x' when giving chord shapes.
For example if you wrote the chord of D, you would see :
EADGBE
xx0232
where the 'x's mean do not play this string.
In tab it is implicitly assumed that a string is not played if it is not
marked. So the same chord in tab would be:
E-----2----------------------------------------------------------
B-----3----------------------------------------------------------
G-----2----------------------------------------------------------
D-----0----------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
with no 'x'. The x is is only used in tab to represent a heavily
muted string which is picked/strummed to give a percussive sound.
There are a number of other symbols for things like whammy bar bends,
pick scrapes and so on. There seems to be no particular standard
way of writing these - details should be given in the TAB to explain
what the symbols mean.
Bass TAB will probably need a few extra symbols to cope with the
different techniques used in bass playing - for example slapping
and 'popping' the string with thumb or middle finger.
You could use 's' for slap and 'p' for pop as long as you wrote
them underneath the lines of tab to distinguish them from slide
and pull off which would be written on the lines of tab.
[Back To Contents]
Hammer ons and pull offs
With hammer-ons and pull-offs you might find things like these :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A---------5h7-----------5h7--------------------------------------
E---0--0----------0--0-------------------------------------------
Which would mean play the open E twice, then hit the A string at the
5th fret and hammer on to the 7th fret. Pull offs look very similar :
E----3p0---------------------------------------------------------
B---------3p0----------------------------------------------------
G--------------2p0-----------------------------------------------
D-------------------2--------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Here we have a descending blues scale using pull-offs to the open
strings. For each pull off you only pick the first note of the pair
with the right hand - so in this example you would pick all the
notes on the 3rd and 2nd frets, and the open strings would be
sounded by pulling off.
Because you give the string an extra bit of energy when you hammer on
and pull off, you only need to hit the first note with the picking hand.
You could even have a long string of hammer-ons and pull-offs like
this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G---2h4p2h4p2h4p2h4p2h4p2----------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
In this case you only pick the first note.
Note - you might see other symbols used to mean hammer on or pull off, for
example ^ can be use to mean hammer-on and pull-off, e.g.:
G---2^4^2----
which would mean "hit the note at the 2nd fret, hammer-on to the 4th and
pull-off to the 2nd fret".
It would make things easier if everyone used the same symbols, so unless
you have a strong objection to 'h' and 'p' please use those.
In any case, for any tab you send you should always explain what your symbols
mean so if you use anything 'unconventional' make sure you explain what it
means.
Bends
When bends are involved you need to know how much to bend the note
up. This is indicated by writing a number after the 'b'.
For example, if you see this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7b9-------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
it means strike the B string at the 7th fret, then bend the note up
two semitones (one whole step) so that it sounds the same pitch as
a note fretted at the 9th fret would do. (Sometimes the bend is
written with the second part in brackets, like this ---7b(9)--- )
Something like this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7b9--9r7--------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
means play the note at the 7th fret, bend up two semitones, strike the
note again whilst it is still bent, then release the bend so that the
note has it's normal pitch.
Sometimes a pre-bend is used - this is where the string is bent up
*before* the note is struck. After striking the note, the bend is
released. Pre-bends are usually written like this:
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------(7)b9r7--------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
This means: fret the note at the 7th fret and bend the string up two
semitones (without actually playing the note). Now strike the string and
release the bend.
You sometimes get a note which is bent up only a quarter of a tone or so.
In this case it would look a bit strange to write :
B--------7b7.5--------
if you have to bend it up half a fret's worth.
Instead it's written as :
bend up 1/4 tone
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7b--------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
with instructions on how much to bend written above the note.
Slides
The most common symbols used for slides are / for a slide
up and \ for a slide down.
You might also see 's' used to mean slide.
You don't always need separate symbols for 'up' and 'down' slides
since a line of tab reading :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7/9-------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
is clearly a slide up from 7th to 9th fret. However you might
also see things like these :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------/7-9-7\---------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
where the exact start or finish of a slide is not given. Here you
have to know whether you're sliding up or down. In these cases use
your judgment to choose the starting or finishing fret. The effect
usually desired is to have a note 'swooping in' from a lower pitch
or dropping suddenly in pitch as the note fades.
You could have a whole series of slides running together, like this
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7/9/11\9\7\6\7--------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
which would mean you only strike the first note with the pick using
the sustain to produce the other notes.
[Back To Contents]
Note length information
Occasionally you will find tab which includes information on all
of the note lengths. There seems to be no particular 'standard'
way of doing this, but it usually involves a line of letters or
symbols above the tab.
See below (Section 3.2 part 6) for more details.
If the explanation of the timing symbols is not given in the tab then you've got a problem !
In this case a quick email to the author to ask for enlightenment
is the only way forward.
[Back To Contents]
Writing Guitar Tablature
Getting started
Perhaps one of the most important things to do before you start
typing up a piece of TAB is to decide exactly how much information
to include in it. The trick is to convey the right amount of
information in a clear, easily readable form.
Questions you can ask yourself are :
- Is the song played using mostly chords ?
- Are there a number of riffs which appear throughout the song ?
- Is there a clear verse/chorus/middle bit structure ?
By planning ahead a little you should be able to produce a clearly
structured TAB which will not only be easier for others to read, but
also easier for you to type in.
There are also choices to be made when deciding what package to use
when typing the TAB in. All you really need is a simple text editor,
however a mouse-driven editor will probably make things easier.
When you start typing in it saves time if you draw out one blank stave
and then make 8 or 10 copies of these before you start typing in
the fret numbers etc.
If you use a more complicated package like Microsoft Word then
make sure that the characters you use are all the same length.
If an 'm' character is wider than an 'i' character then your TAB
is going to look very strange on another text editor. Choose a font
where all characters get the same width - Courier usually does the
job.
There are also a number of programs available by ftp which were written
specifically to make TAB writing easier. Details of these programs
including ftp addresses are in the 'TABBING MADE EASY' FAQ by John Kean,
along with other useful hints for writing tab. You can obtain this FAQ
from OLGA (www.olga.net\software.html).
To TAB or not to TAB
If a song can be described well with just chords, then it will be
a lot easier to read and write if you just use the chord shapes, rather
than tab out the chords.
BUT - if you do just send in the chords it makes things much clearer if you give the chord shapes as well.
For example, if you wanted to send in Led Zeps 'Gallows Pole' you could write:
Intro : A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A
Verse : A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A
A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A G D
A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A
(You should really have the words underneath as well, but I can't
remember them at the moment !)
Now this is OK, but how many people actually know how to play Dadd4/A
off the top of their heads ?
What you need to do is include some chord shapes like this :
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x02020 x02010 x04035 320033 xx0232 x00000
A7 Am7 Dadd4/A G D G/A
To tab out these chords will take a lot longer to type in, and
will probably take people a lot longer to read and understand.
Where a song is based around chords like this, it makes things
much easier if you just give chord shapes and names, then show
where the chords go in relation to the words.
[Back To Contents]
THINGS TO DO WHEN WRITING TABS
One of the most important considerations when typing in tab is to make
it clear and easily readable.
There are a few simple things you can do to make things work.
- Use spaces !
It's amazing the difference it can make if you insert a few blank lines
in the right place. If you are used to writing the words above or below
the lines of tab make sure you leave a few lines free so that it's clear
whether the words belong to the line of tab above or below.
Space out the individual lines of TAB and the whole thing will be a lot
easier for others to understand.
- Define the symbols you use.
It would make everybody's life a lot easier if everyone used the same
symbols for hammer ons, bends etc.
BUT - if you are convinced that your particular way of writing bends
and slides makes much more sense than anyone else's, that's OK as long
as you tell everybody what system you use. It makes very good sense to
start your tab with a list of symbols used.
The list of most commonly used symbols is below :
- h - hammer on
- p - pull off
- b - bend string up
- r - release bend
- / - slide up
- \ - slide down
- v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
- t - tap (with strumming hand)
- x - muted, struck string
When you get on to harmonics, you might see a variety of symbols
used. Even in standard music notation, an accepted way of writing
natural and artificial harmonics has neverbeen agreed !
However, using brackets is the standard way of writing harmonics,
so a natural harmonic at the 12th fret would be :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E------<12>-------------------------------------------------------
Normal brackets () are sometimes used for grace notes or optional
notes so 'pointy' brackets <> is the usual choice for harmonics.
Because there are no standards (in written music or tablature) to
distinguish between natural and artificial harmonics, some confusion
sometimes arises. If you are writing out some tab with harmonics, it's
best to add a note to say whether they are natural harmonics (most
commonly at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets) or artificial (pinched)
harmonics. With artificial harmonics, you have to fret a note with
the left hand (say at the 2nd fret) and pinch the harmonic an octave
above (at the 14th fret) so you should make it clear whether the number
you write in the tab is the fretted or pinched note. It is more common
to tab out the pinched notes, so if you see tab like this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E------<14>--<16>--<17>--<16>--<14>------------------------------
It will usually mean fret notes at the 2nd, 4th and 5th frets, and
play the artificial harmonics at the frets shown in the tab.
[Back To Contents]
- Label bits of the Tab
It makes things a lot easier if you can see where the 'verse' and
'chorus' parts of a song are, so put a few labels in certain places
to guide people through it.
Many songs will have clear 'verse' and 'chorus' structures - so you
can tab out the riffs/chords or whatever for these just once, and then
indicate where these are repeated. Or there maybe a couple of
important riffs which are used - so tab these out and label them
'Riff One' and 'Riff Two' - then when they come up later in the song
you can just say 'repeat Riff One four times' instead of tabbing
the whole thing again.
As long as it's clear which bits of tab go with which label, you
will save yourself time this way as well as making it easier to
read for others.
- Include Artist / Album
It's useful for others to know where to find the original song,
so at the beginning of each tab include some information on
the artists who recorded the original, and the album on which
the song can be found.
- General comments
It's also useful to include a few lines at the beginning of the tab to explain the style of the song, or to point out important
features such as alternative tunings, use of capos etc.
A few words along the lines of "use a staccato, funky kind
of strumming style for the chords, then change to a sustained
feel for the lead line" will help people to get an idea of
how to approach the playing style.
Information on the type of guitar (electric/acoustic,
6 string/12 string) and effects used would be useful.
One point on the use of capos and alternative tunings :
For tab using a capo, it's standard practice to write the
numbers of the frets relative to the position of the capo.
So if you had a D major shape with a capo at the 2nd fret
the tab would be :
E----2-----------------------------------------------------------
B----3-----------------------------------------------------------
G----2-----------------------------------------------------------
D----0-----------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
The notes fretted on the top three strings are 2 or 3 frets above the
capo position, so they are written with the numbers 2 or 3, even
though you actually fret the notes at the 4th and 5th frets.
When writing out the names of chords played using a capo, it's usually
best to use chord names that take into account the actual pitch of the
notes. For example, in the tab example above, guitarists recognise the
chord shape as a "D shape", but because the capo is at the 2nd fret the
actual chord is an E (2 semitones up from a D), so you should write the
chord name as E. This makes it easier for other musicians (or other
guitarists who aren't using a capo) to play along in the right key.
It's similar with tab for guitars tuned a semitone or tone
lower than usual. If a song should be played with the guitar
tuned to Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb, and it has this chord :
Eb-----0---------------------------------------------------------
Bb-----0---------------------------------------------------------
Gb-----1---------------------------------------------------------
Db-----2---------------------------------------------------------
Ab-----2---------------------------------------------------------
Eb-----0---------------------------------------------------------
although it "looks like an E chord" it is actually an Eb, because of the
tuning, so in the long run, it avoids confusion to call it an Eb.
[Back To Contents]
- Timing information
You may want to get really serious and include details
giving the precise rhythm of the piece. This will involve
a lot more typing, but it means all the information
necessary to play the piece is given explicitly.
One way to approach this is to write a line of dashes
interspersed with numbers which count the beats.
So in 4-4 time, you would have :
1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4--- etc
Under this you can write a line of d's and u's to represent
down and upstrokes.
Here is a simple example where the rhythm is 2 crotchets
(quarter notes) followed by 4 quavers (8th notes)
1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4--- etc
d---d---d-u-d-u-d---d---d-u-d-u-
You could expand on this to use upper and lower case letters
to indicate accents and so on.
If you use this method make sure that you clearly separate the
2 lines of rhythm information from the 6 lines of tab !!!
One other way of including timing information is to use one
letter/symbol for each note type.
For example use e for 8th note (quaver), s for 16th note (semi-
quaver) and so on. The letters you use may well differ depending
on whether you're used to the american system of quarter notes,
8th notes etc or the english system of crotchets and quavers ,
but the method is the same.
If you're not sure of the 'translations' here they are :
| whole note | semibreve
| | half note | minim
| | quarter note | crotchet
| | 8th note | quaver
| | 16th note | semiquaver
| | 32nd note | demisemiquaver
| | 64th note | hemidemisemiquaver
|
Simply write the letters above the corresponding note in the tab. (Make sure you define which letters/symbols you use) Here's an example of what this looks like.
This is the opening riff from the Beatles' Ticket To Ride:
q e e t t t q e e t t t
E--------0-----------0--------0-----------0----------------------
B-----------2-----0--------------2-----0-------------------------
G---2----------2----------2---------2----------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Here I've used q for quarter note, e for 8th note
and t for triplet quarter note.
If you want to send in a tab with rhythm information like this
then it's essential to explain the system you use. I've seen
a lot of different systems of letters and numbers of varying
degrees of simplicity and readability. Whichever you choose to
use, you'll have to explain all your symbols to make sure others
can work out what the hell you're on about.
If you want to give a few clues as to the rhythm of the tab, but
don't want to get too involved, use of bar lines is an effective
way of conveying timing information.
Simply insert a vertical line of |'s to indicate the end of a
bar. So using the national anthem example I had before, with bar
lines it looks like this :
E--------|---------------|0--------4--2-|0--------------|--------
B---0----|----------0----|--------------|---------------|0-------
G------1-|-----1---------|--------------|-----1----3----|--------
D--------|2--------------|--------------|---------------|--------
A--------|---------------|--------------|---------------|--------
E--------|---------------|--------------|---------------|--------
[Back To Contents]
- Lyrics
It's a lot easier to follow a piece of tab when you've got at least
some of the lyrics to follow, and you can match up the notes/riffs
in the tab to the lyrics. Try to include lyrics for at least the first verse and chorus. If
you're not sure of the words, google them!
[Back To Contents]
THINGS TO AVOID
Take a look at the following tab. You can't tell if you are supposed to
play 1-2-1, or 12-1, or 1-21. Moral: keep at least one space
between each separate note, you homo. 
| Gay |
Not Gay |
E--------|
B-121--12|
G--------|
D--------|
A--------|
E--------| |
E-----------|
B-1-2-1--1-2|
G-----------|
D-----------|
A-----------|
E-----------| |
- Fat Ass Tab Lines
Too long of tab lines make them difficult to read. Lines of tab
that are 80
or more characters long is too wide on the screen, so what should be a single line of tab ends up being
split onto two lines. Here is what it looks like :
E---------------------------------------------0-------------------
----------------------------
B---------------------------------------2--4-----4--2-------------
----------------------------
G------------------------------1--2--4-----------------4--2--1----
----------------------------
D---------------------1--2--4-----------------------------------4-
-2--1-----------------------
A------------0--2--4----------------------------------------------
-------4--2--0--------------
E---0--2--4-------------------------------------------------------
----------------4--2--0-----
This looks pretty weird when you see it. When I
wrote it, it looked fine because I could
fit the whole thing on one screen. But it is too long and many of your readers
will run into
problems.
All you have to do is make sure the maximum width of your lines are less than 80 characters.
- Very squashed TAB
It's amazing how easy it is to ruin an otherwise good piece of tab by
not spacing it out so that the end result is a mass of cramped tab,
explanations, labels etc.
When you finish typing up, go back through the ta and see if you can
insert a few blank lines here and there to separate verse from chorus
or whatever. It really does make it a lot easier for others to read.
It might also be worth considering if you've included too much detail
in the tab. Usually this will not be the case, but I have seen a few tabs which go into great details, but are extremely off-putting to
try to read because of the sheer quantity of information.
- Unneeded, repetitious, unnecessary repetition
If a line of tab or a particular riff is repeated a number of times,
then tab it once. It's also easier to read like this.
That's all I think you need to know about reading and writing tab.
If there's anything important you think I've left out or if there
are bits of the FAQ which you can't understand then let us know!
[Back To The Top]
contact me at :Howard.Wright@ed.ac.uk
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