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TabNabber's Guide to Guitar Chords and TablatureHow to READ GUITAR CHORDS and TABSAdapted from Howard Wright's (OLGA) guide to tablature
Last Updated: Jan 26 2021 ContentsWhat is a Tab?"Guitar Tab" or "tablature" is a method of writing down (or transcribing) notes and chords in music. Similar to traditional sheet music but much less detailed, tabs have flourished in the internet age due to their simplicity and flexibility. The format of guitar tablature as described below is an unofficial standard that is used by 99% of tabs and approved by 101% of guitarists. Keep your tabs in this standard format and we'll play your guitar tabs as midis. You're arrived here friend, at what could be the only place on the internet where you can do so. Use your power wisely. And Congratulations.
Guitar Tab Notation - the basics:Guitar tabs simply indicate notes to play - strings to strum and frets to fret. Start 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:
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.
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:
So this means play all these notes together as a chord. The same chord
could be written like this:
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).
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.
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: Note that in this chord form, an 'x' means to not play the string. You could represent the same thing simply as:EADGBE <-String names x00212 <-Frets
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:
If you want to explicitly describe how each chord should be played, then you can redefine them and show the chord shapes like this: 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 SymbolsOther important information often included in tab is written in-between notes. Here are the symbols most often used:
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:
Hammer ons and pull offsHammer 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: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|------------------------------- B|------------------------------- G|------------------------------- D|------------------------------- A|--------5h7-----------5h7------ E|--0--0----------0--0----------- 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|----------------------------- BendsWhen 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: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----------- 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|-----7b9--9r7---- 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.E|----------------- B|-----(7)b9r7----- G|----------------- D|----------------- A|----------------- E|----------------- 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|--------------------- SlidesThe most common symbols used for slides are "/" for a slide up and "\" for a slide down. The following is a slide up from the 7th to 9th fret.You could have a whole series of slides running together, like this:E|------------ B|-----7/9---- G|------------ D|------------ A|------------ E|------------ In this example, you would only strike the first note with the pick and slide up and down with sustain to produce the other notes.E|--------------------------- B|-----7/9/11\9\7\6\7-------- G|--------------------------- D|--------------------------- A|--------------------------- E|--------------------------- Writing Guitar TablatureSo 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:
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 TipsHere's some tips to make your tabs clear and easily readable.
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|------<12>------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.E|-------------------------------------- B|-------------------------------------- G|-------------------------------------- D|-------------------------------------- A|-------------------------------------- E|-----<14>--<16>--<17>--<16>--<14>-----
Tab Writing Tips - THINGS TO AVOID
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.
Rather than copy/pasta the same lines, use "x2" to indicate to repeat the preceding line.
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