TabNabber's Guide to Guitar Chords and
Tablature
How to READ GUITAR CHORDS and TABS
A GUIDE TO GUITAR TAB NOTATION
Adapted from Howard Wright's (OLGA) guide to tablature
Last Updated: Oct 2014
Contents
What is a Tab?
"Guitar Tab" or "tablature" is a method of writing down
(or transcribing) notes and chords in
music. Tabs, unlike standard musical notation, do not use symbols (ie: 
) to represent notes.
Most tabs are easier to read - but not nearly as detailed - as
traditional sheet music. Tabs enable both beginners and
experienced musicians alike to learn, share, and expand their music making
talents.
TabNabber is proud to be the only place where you can take
guitar tabs from other sites
 and easily play them in our midi player and hear what they actually sound like.
Guitar Tab Notation - the basics:
Guitar tabs show you what notes to play, which strings to strum
and which fret to fret it at. Tabs usually won't show you anything about picking, strumming, or where to use upstrokes / downstrokes.
Start out with 6 lines (or four for bass). These correspond to the strings of the instrument. The top line is the highest pitch "e" string, and the bottom line is the lowest pitch "e" string. If the string names aren't given explicitly, assume normal (e-b-g-d-a-e) tuning. Here are some blank tab
lines with only the string
names:
| Guitar Tab (normal tuning) |
Bass Tab |
E|-----------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------
G|-----------------------------------
D|-----------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------
|
G|-----------------------------------
D|-----------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------
|
The numbers on the lines show where to fret the string (with your fingers). A zero ("0") means play the open string.
"1" means to play the string with your finger on the 1st fret. 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 - all 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. Here 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----------------------------------------------------------------
Chords in a Tab:
Most songs can be broken down into a sequence of chords (2 or more notes played simultaneously). Tabs that list
out a song's chords are often easy to read and play and write! So, instead
of writing this:
E|---2---
B|---1---
G|---2---
D|---0---
A|---0---
E|-------
You could also define (or redefine) the chord in this format:
EADGBE <-String names
x00212 <-Frets
Note that in this chord form, an 'x' means to not play the string. You could represent the same thing simply as:
[D7]
This is the easiest way to represent a chord. We'll automatically link
chords in brackets like the one above with a handy chord chart. Here's how
to read the chart:
Guitar Chord Chart Diagram:
If you want to explicitly describe how each chord should be played, then you
can redefine them and show the chord shapes like this:
EADGBE EADGBE
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x02020 x02010 320003 xx0232
x00003
[A7] [Am7]
[G] [D] [G/A]
Note the [G/A] chord chart looks just the [G] chord
chart. They are almost the same chord, but the slash in [G/A] indicates
there is an additional "A" note. Chords with the slash ("/")
are called "split chords". A split chord is just a regular chord with an additional bass note. The slash
separates the chord name and the bass note. So the [G/A] chord is actually an
"G" major chord with a lower "A" bass note added to it. [D/Bb] would be a "D" major chord with a "Bb" note added to
it.
Advanced symbols in Tab
Other important information that can be included in a tab includes hammer-ons, pull offs, slides,
bends and vibrato. The standard practice is to write extra letters or symbols between notes
to indicate how to play them. Here are the symbols most
often used :
- h - hammer on (also written as "^" - for a hammer on
or pull off)
- p - pull off
- b - bend string up
- r - release bend
- / - slide up (also written as "s" - for an up or down
slide)
- \ - slide down
- v - vibrato or tremolo (also written as "~"). Created by wiggling the string back and forth.
- t - note is tapped. As taps can be done with either hand, you may see an L or R next to the T (indicating the Left or Right hand). Otherwise, assume the Right Hand (strumming hand).
- x - play string muted - with heavy damping to get a choppy, percussive sound. Use your fretting hand to lightly damp the string so that when played it sounds dead. Note that the use of an x in tablature is totally different from the use of
an x in chords.
Bass tabs use a few extra symbols for the different techniques used in bass playing. These bass symbols are often written underneath the lines of tab (so they're not confused with slides and pulloffs), and include:
-
S - a thumb slap
- P - a pop
Hammer ons and pull offs
Hammer ons are played by quickly and firmly pressing a finger on the fret
(without picking the string). In this example you would strum the open E
string twice, then strum the A string at the
5th fret and hammer on the 7th fret:
E--------------------------------
B--------------------------------
G--------------------------------
D--------------------------------
A---------5h7-----------5h7------
E---0--0----------0--0-----------
Pull offs are played by quickly releasing a finger on a fret (without picking
the string). In this example of pull offs, you would pick the notes on
the 2nd fret with your right (strumming) hand, and the open strings would be
sounded by pulling off:
E----2p0------------------------
B---------2p0-------------------
G--------------2p0--------------
D-------------------------------
A-------------------------------
E-------------------------------
In hammer-ons and pull-offs, the second note tends to be less loud than the
first (especially on an acoustic). A slight sideways motion of the
fretting finger while pulling off will add extra vibration to the string and
give you some extra volume. Here's another example, a long string of hammer-ons and pull-offs,
where only the first note would be picked:
E------------------------------
B------------------------------
G---2h4p2h4p2h4p2h4p2h4p2------
D------------------------------
A------------------------------
E------------------------------
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. The bent note can be put in brackets, eg: ---7b(9)---. The bend can then be released like this:
E------------------
B------7b9--9r7----
G------------------
D------------------
A------------------
E------------------
Here we would play the note at the 7th fret, bend up two semitones, strike the
note again while 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 these cases it's best to write instructions on how much to bend above the
note, like so:
bend up 1/4 tone
E----------------------
B------7b--------------
G----------------------
D----------------------
A----------------------
E----------------------
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----------------------------
In this example, you would only strike the first note with the pick using
the sustain to produce the other notes.
[Back To Contents]
Writing Guitar Tablature
So you've decided to share your musical and transcribing talents with the
world. Congratulations, thanks, and welcome, fellow tabber!
One of the most important things to do when tabbing is to decide exactly how much detail to include, and
whether to tab it with chords, tab lines, or both. 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?
If you're writing a tab outside of TabNabber, make sure the font characters you use are monospaced - all the same
width - "Courier" and "Courier New" are common.
If an 'm' is wider than an 'i' character then your tab will be hard to space out
correctly and will therefore - most likely - suck.
Tab Writing Tips
Here's some tips to make your tabs clear and easily readable.
- 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 and the tab will be a lot
easier to understand.
- Define the symbols you use.
Hammer ons and bends are represented by a fairly standard set of symbols.
Other effects, such as grace notes and harmonics you may see a variety of symbols
used. Even in standard music notation, an accepted way of writing
natural and artificial harmonics has never been agreed upon! Using brackets, eg:
"<>", is the most common way of writing harmonics,
so a natural harmonic at the 12th fret would be :
E----------------
B----------------
G----------------
D----------------
A----------------
E------<12>------
Grace notes (or optional notes) are usually designated using parentheses, eg:
"()". If you are writing a tab with harmonics, it's
best to add a comment to specify 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.
- Include Artist / Album / other details and comments
Including song information on the composers, recording artists, albums, or if the song is used on a tv show or soundtrack
will help more people find your tab through search
engines. Note: Please see our terms of use for site specific policies on what kinds of material are allowed.
Indicating features such as alternative tunings and use of capos
will help give your fellow musicians hit the right notes and understand the playing style.
For a tab using a capo, it's standard practice to write the
numbers of the frets relative to the position of the capo.
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 recognize 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.
However if you want to get fancy about it, you may wish to make the timing
in your tabs more closely resemble sheet music. One way of doing this 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:
| American System | English
System
| | whole note | semibreve
| | half note | minim
| | quarter note | crotchet
| | 8th note | quaver
| | 16th note | semiquaver
| | 32nd note | demisemiquaver
| | 64th note | hemidemisemiquaver
|
Simply write the timing letters above the corresponding note in the tab. Here's an example
with q for quarter note, e for 8th note
and t for triplet quarter note:
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----------------------------------------------------------------
If you include timing information like this then it's essential to explain the system you used so others can work out what the hell you're on about.
[Back To Contents]
Tab Writing Tips - THINGS TO AVOID
- Crowded numbers
In the first tab below, 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.
| Hard to read |
|
Easy to read |
E--------|
B-121--12|
G--------|
D--------|
A--------|
E--------|
|
|
E-----------|
B-1-2-1--1-2|
G-----------|
D-----------|
A-----------|
E-----------| |
- Fat Tab Lines
Tab lines that are too wide can be difficult to read due to line wrapping. More than 80 characters
on a single line of tab can end up spanning multiple lines, like this:
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-----
Disgusting. Even if it looks fine because you can fit the whole thing
on your screen, other viewers could run into problems. Just make sure the maximum width of your lines are
less than 80 characters, you fatty.
- 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 text. 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.
- 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.
Have
an addition or improvement to the tab notation?
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