How do tabs work

However, if there is a song you need to know quickly , then guitar tabs are probably the fastest way to learn it. In this guide, we show you how to read tabs , so you can start playing your favorite riffs today. What is a tab, and how do you interpret it? There are six strings on a guitar , and a tab is written using six horizontal lines, each representing a string.

The bottom line is meant to be your thickest string low E , and the top line is your thinnest string high E. The lines in between are the rest of your strings. This is essential for understanding some of the lingo that goes along with learning tabs.

For guitar tabs, the fret closest to the headstock will be 1. The frets are numbered 1,2,3,4 and so on as you move toward the body. Although guitar tabs are a quicker method for learning how to play the guitar, it still takes some time and practice to master.

Each day you should spend some time playing and giving your fingers, hands, and brain some exercise. There will be some pain as your fingertips toughen up. The more effort you put into it, the easier it will get.

Picking up the guitar for a little bit each day is the best way to progress. Start off slow. The rest is practice and more practice, and maybe even some guitar lessons.

Focus on firmly holding the string down to get the best sound from your guitar. Watch others play to see what they do. In tab, chords are written as shown in the diagram below, with all the notes of the chord stacked directly on top of each other.

Begin with simple chords. One of the most challenging aspects of chords as a beginner is finger placement. It can feel awkward, especially at first. What takes more time to learn is switching from one chord to the next. In the end, what works best for you and allows you to easily move from one chord to another is most important.

A guitar riff is a series of notes that is repeated throughout a song. Many catchy guitar riffs are instantly recognizable, and luckily for beginning guitarists, they can be very easy to play too. So, a six-string guitar will have six lines , and a four-string bass will have four lines. Numbers stacked on top of one another are to be played at the same time, as in the fourth note of the song in measure 2. As you become more familiar with reading guitar tabs, you can easily learn how to read guitar chords.

This will show the exact frets and strings to play when strumming a full chord. The dots on the remaining strings tell you which frets to hold when you strum the chord. Make sure to also strum the two open strings! Doing so will provide you with all the notes needed to successfully play the C Major chord. Tabs use a variety of symbols to help the player know how and when to add expression to what is being played. The most common symbols are slides , pull-offs hammer-ons and bends.

If you see this symbol between two notes in a tab, it means that you will slide your finger along the fretboard toward the next note instead of stopping the note when the duration is over as normal. Slides may be done up or down the neck and even performed on chords. Sliding provides a simple yet effective way of adding expression when playing. A Pull-off occurs between two or more descending notes.

When you see this written, be sure to pick only the first note and then lift your fingers off the fretboard in succession for each additional note in the pull-off.

In formal Guitar TAB, this is shown as a curved line over the two notes as shown below and an H above the staff:. This is when you play a note and pull-off to a lower note.

The same curved line is used in formal Guitar TAB as is used for hammer-ons, so you simply need to look at whether the number is higher or lower to know which technique to use.

Hammer-ons and pull-offs can be combined known as legato all under the same curved line as shown below:. To know which slash symbol is which, think of the slash symbol as a slide you walk up to from the left.

Some old text-based Guitar TAB may show s instead of a slash eg: 7s5. In formal Guitar TAB, you may also notice a curved line over the top of the slide, this is a reminder that you only pick the first note of the slide. In formal Guitar TAB, a curved line with an arrow or number is used.

So 7b9 means to bend the 7th fret note up until it sounds like the 9th fret pitch. In formal Guitar TAB, a number is given at the top of the curved arrow to tell us what type of bend to play. Sometimes this is shown if a bend needs to be held for a long time, so you know when to lower it again. You push the string up to the correct pitch, then pick the note before releasing it or holding it. This can be across multiple strings or on a single string.

Think of a funk guitarist playing some percussive rhythms on his guitar without chords ringing out. Those are muted hits. When a note is in parentheses in Guitar TAB, it either means to play a ghost note or that the note is continuing to ring out. In the below example, the notes in parentheses are ghost notes. This means you need to play the notes in the parentheses softer than the rest of the notes.

Normally when a note rings out to the next bar, parentheses are used to show that the note is still ringing out. You may also see A. You may also notice that the notes in the standard notation staff show as diamonds when a harmonic is used. Most guitars have between 19 and 24 frets, and the counting starts from the nut, which is the first strip after the head. The nut is 0, and the frets after it are 1, 2, 3, and so on. If you see the number 0 on the guitar tab, it means you will be playing an open string, with no finger on it.

Numbers greater than 0 represent on which fret you should put your finger. Reading happens from left to right, so you're going to start at the leftmost, playing every note in succession to the end of the tab.

Sometimes, you will see notes stacked up on top of each other. This layout is a chord, and it means that you should play the notes at the same time, with the fingers placed on the right frets. Learn some of the basic guitar chords here. Chords are more complex than single notes, and they take a bit of time to learn and master, but once you get the hang of them, they add a fuller sound to your music.

One of the most common mistakes among beginners learning to play chords is the tendency to press other strings that are not part of the chord. To avoid this, you have to practice squaring up your fingers, so they only hit the lines they are supposed to. It's a skill you can only learn through practice.

Another common mistake is not placing your fingers on the right fret location. No matter how strong the urge, don't place your finger right on the target fret. Applying the right amount of pressure is yet another skill you have to learn. Whatever chord you're playing, you should make sure to press the string with enough force that you don't get a weak sound. Maybe you see the theme by now; this skill will come with practice.

A riff is a series of notes, like a short phrase, that tends to get repeated throughout the song. In popular music, some of the most popular songs have easily recognizable riffs.

Riffs help to make a tune or song catchy and often remain burned into our memories long after we have forgotten the rest of the song. All you do is play from left to right, placing your fingers on the right frets as you strum along consistently , and playing chords in the right way.