Let’s start with a quite shocking fact… many legendary guitarists can not read formal music, for example, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, and many, many more. They used their ears, not their eyes to write and play the incredible songs and solos they created.
Therefore, you don’t need to learn to read music to become a good or even legendary guitarist. However, I am not saying that learning to read music is a bad thing, it’s an excellent way to improve as a musician and understand the intricacies of music theory. But, if you are just starting out, there is no point in filling your mind with information that you really don’t need at this stage.
So, how are you going to learn your favorite songs? Well, welcome to the wonderful world of guitar tablature. But…
What is Guitar Tablature?
Guitar Tab (for short) is a simplified way of writing music specifically for the guitar. It is far easier to understand than traditional music notation, as is shown in the diagram below…
The section at the top shows formal music notation, but don’t worry, it’s only there for reference, you don’t need to read or understand any of that. In fact, on most guitar tabs it isn’t shown at all.
We need to concentrate on the lower section - the one that says “TAB” on it. It consists of six lines that run horizontally across the page. Each line represents one string of your guitar, with the line at the bottom representing the 6th string, and the line at the top representing the 1st string.
Therefore, when your guitar is on your lap, the string closest to you on the guitar (the 6th or Low (Thickest) E string) is the line closest to you on the TAB. While the string furthest from you on the guitar (the 1st or High (Thinnest) e string) is the line furthest away from you on the TAB. Some people find this confusing at first because it seems upside down, but it gets very easy, very quickly with a little practice.
Next, the numbers… these represent the frets that you are supposed to play the notes on.
Let’s now take a look at the tab again:
If you read the tab correctly, you’ll play the following notes one after the other. It’s best to use the fingers I have suggested to help develop strength and dexterity in your fretting hand, but these are not usually indicated in the TAB, so you’ll have to work out the best fingerings to play different songs yourself.
Start by playing the 2nd fret on the 4th string with your index finger, then play the same note again - 2nd fret - 4th string (index). Now play the 4th fret on the 4th string with your ring finger, followed by the 2nd fret on the 4th string with your index finger. Finally, the 2nd fret on the 3rd string with your index finger and the 1st fret on the 3rd string with your index finger.
For simplicity, here it is laid out in an easy-to-read format:
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4th string - 2nd fret (index)
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4th string - 2nd fret (index)
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4th string - 4th fret (ring)
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4th string - 2nd fret (index)
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3rd string - 2nd fret (index)
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3rd string - 1st fret (index)
Play it through a few times, does it ring any bells? Well, it’s the melody of the first line of “Happy Birthday”. And that’s how simple it is to read a simple melody using guitar TAB.
Chords
Moving on from single notes, let’s take a look at chords. Chords are by definition several different notes played at the same time. Therefore, it makes sense that they would be shown on top of each other in guitar tablature.
Here is the TAB for three basic root chords, A, D, and E. You will notice that every note is directly above or below the other notes, indicating that you strum all the notes at once to create the chord.
Next, we have a ‘0’ on the A string, this indicates that you should play the open A string, i.e. there is no finger on that string. The next three lines/strings - the D, G, and B - all have the number ‘2’ on them, indicating that you press each string on the 2nd fret. You would use your first, second, and third fingers to do this, although it is not shown by the tab. The high e string is open, so there should not be any fingers on that string.
Similarly, the D chord shows where you should place your fingers for the chord, that the D string is open (indicated with the ‘0’), and that you shouldn’t play the A and low E strings (indicated with an ‘X’). And the E chord follows the same system, but without an ‘X’ because every string is played.
Other Tablature Symbols
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s take a quick look at how different paying techniques are indicated. There really isn’t much to explain here, it’s simply a case of when you see one of the symbols below, play the note using that technique, for example, if you see a line slanting up, slide up to that note. If however, the line is slanting downwards, slide down the neck to that note.
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - string bend
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
t - strumming hand tap
Unlike music notation, the guitar tab is not universal and different tab platforms have their own ways of indicating different techniques. Going back to the slide example I covered, some sites include a small letter ‘s’ above the line to indicate a slide. The best option is to take a look at the info or help sections of whatever site you are visiting for a full rundown of how they indicate different aspects of playing in their tabs.
The Disadvantage of Relying on Guitar Tabs
TAB is fantastic, it is far easier to read than sheet music and you should by now be well on your way to fully understanding it in less than 30 minutes. However, there are a few disadvantages to the system.
Getting your Timing Right
The biggest technical disadvantage of tablature is that it does not accurately notate time. There may be a BPM stated to indicate the beats per minute, but this is unusual. However, far more importantly, there is no rigid indication of the time difference between notes or chords. If you give a sheet of music notation to an orchestral player, they will look at it and play it perfectly from start to finish with every note in precisely the right place as the composer intended. If you listen to them playing what is on the sheet music and know the piece of music you would instantly recognise it.
This is not the same for Guitar TAB, although the notes are positioned to suggest the time between them, this is nowhere near as precise as with ‘proper’ sheet music notation. Therefore the only way to accurately know where each note or chord goes is to listen and play along with the original recording.
I was once in the very unfortunate situation of sitting in on rhythm guitar with a ‘beginner’ band of adults because I wanted to help a friend out. They had given me the names of the songs we would be practicing and I knew them all well enough. I turned up to the practice room and waited for the first song to start, it was “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult. It was a new song for the band and the lead guitarist had only just learned it. He played it and even though all the notes were correct and in the right order, the rhythm he used to play them was slightly off.
I questioned him on it and he said he had learned it from the tab, I said “Great, but why does it sound the way it does?”. He replied, “That’s what the tab indicated”. I then asked if he had played along with the song, and he said no, the tab was good. I then played it for him and the rest of the band the way it was played on the record, everyone looked at me and said, yes, that’s how we want it. I then spent the next 15 minutes of our practice time teaching him how to play it properly. He would have learned just as much if he had spent the same time playing along with the song. So, never trust a guitar tab, they are great for reference, but you need to play along with the original recording to make sure you are playing the song, especially the timing and rhythm, correctly.
Next, and on a similar subject, we have…
Accuracy
Tabs are nowhere near as accurate as sheet music. To create music notation, especially if it is for the commercial market, you need to really know your theory and have an excellent musical ear.
However, anyone can go on any of the free tab sites right now and enter a tab that is completely wrong, press publish and it is available worldwide. So, as I just mentioned, never trust a guitar tab, use it as a base to learn a song, but if something sounds off, it probably is, so either look for another tab, check a few YouTube videos, or work out what’s wrong with it yourself.
As a slight aside, I recently watched an excellent video by legendary session guitarist Tim Pierce (too many credits to list - from Adele to Micheal Jackson, Alice Cooper to Phil Collins - look him up, amazing session player). In the video he details lots of the iconic songs that he worked out incorrectly. It’s amazing that someone with that much talent and an exceptional musical ear still gets things wrong, it makes the rest of us seem human. If Tim gets things wrong, you can bet every other guitarist does as well!
This brings me nicely to…
For Music, your Ears and Far More Valuable than your Eyes
In the distant past when I started learning the guitar (pre-internet days), there were very few guitar tabs available. Some magazines such as Guitar World, etc. printed a few songs every month, but that was about it. If you wanted to learn anything else you had to get your guitar, play the song you wanted to learn on record or cassette tape (no CDs yet either!), and work out what the guitarist was playing by trial and error. Over time it got easier as my ear and knowledge of theory improved, but it was always a bit of a struggle. However, with continued perseverance, it does turn you into an awesome musician who relies on their ear, not their eyes to play.
After a few years, I was good enough to challenge myself and work songs out off the radio, this meant that I had no ability to rewind the song and listen to it again. Therefore, you have to not only be able to work out what is going on in the song as you listen to it but predict when and where the chords will go for the different sections, guess what scale the guitarist is most likely going to use for their solo, etc.
15 minutes once or twice a week
It’s well worth learning to transcribe songs for guitar by ear. You don’t need to do it for every song you want to learn, but set aside 15-20 minutes of a few of your practice sessions per week and have a go. It takes time and patience, but if you keep trying it will get easier, and then when you get the hang of it, it gets addictive. If you get really good at it try the transcribe off-the-radio test, it’s a lot of fun.
Wrapping It Up
By now, 30 minutes will have passed and you should at least understand the basics of how to read the guitar tab. You won’t be a master at it yet, that takes time, but you should be able to work your way through most guitar tabs slowly and read which notes and chords to play and how to play them.
It’s now just a case of becoming more familiar with the system and the best way to do that is by practicing. But don’t forget how important your ears are, train them and they will be your best musical friends for the rest of your life!
