Can somebody please explain guitar tabs as simply as possible?
I have no clue how to play them! I am a beginner. I am teaching myself from a lesson book. It tells me how to finger the notes and chords and where they are on the staff. Then, it gives me a song to play. With notes on a staff. When I look at guitar TABS on the internet, they look like a foreign language! Help!
e|———————|
B|—1—————-|
G|———————|
D|——2————-|
A|———-3———-|
E|———————|
In this tab, as you can see, the letters correspond to the strings. "e" being the thin string, closest to the floor when you hold your guitar properly, and "E" being the thick string closest to your face. So this tab shows a C chord arpeggiated (plucked one at a time), so what you do is put your index finger on the first fret on the B string and then just strum that string only. Then your middle finger on the second fret of the D string and strum that. And your ring finger on the third fret on the A string and strum that.
And if it's something like this:
e|———————|
B|—1—————-|
G|—0—————-|
D|—2—————-|
A|—3—————-|
E|———————|
where those four numbers are directly one another, you put your fingers like before all at once. But if there's a 0 on the line, that means you don't press down on any frets and just play the string as is. So when you strum these four strings, you'll play the C chord.
There are also other little symbols that tabs show. Some basic ones are:
h - hammer-on
p - pull-off
~ - vibrato
s, /, \ - slide
x - mute
I'm thinking maybe your book will show you what those mean, but if it doesn't, you can always ask again. Good luck and I hope that made sense.
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August 14th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I'm assuming you know how to hold your guitar properly… go ahead and do that. You've probably noticed that there are 6 strings, and in the tablature, there are 6 lines. Then there's probably some numbers and empty circles like so:
-0——————————
—1—————————-
——2————————-
———3———————-
————2——————-
—————1-0-0-0-0-0–
Now, put the guitar on your lap so that the strings are facing the ceiling, but keep it so that the neck of the guitar is facing the same way as you were holding it (properly).
The strings are now lined up exactly like the tablature, so for the first "1", you'll put your finger in the first space of the first string you see, meaning the one furthest from you. Then just pick/pluck. (:
You can practice on that little thing I just wrote… It's no particular tune, it's just random XD;
I hope I was clear enough XD;
References :
My head.
August 14th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
e|———————|
B|—1—————-|
G|———————|
D|——2————-|
A|———-3———-|
E|———————|
In this tab, as you can see, the letters correspond to the strings. "e" being the thin string, closest to the floor when you hold your guitar properly, and "E" being the thick string closest to your face. So this tab shows a C chord arpeggiated (plucked one at a time), so what you do is put your index finger on the first fret on the B string and then just strum that string only. Then your middle finger on the second fret of the D string and strum that. And your ring finger on the third fret on the A string and strum that.
And if it's something like this:
e|———————|
B|—1—————-|
G|—0—————-|
D|—2—————-|
A|—3—————-|
E|———————|
where those four numbers are directly one another, you put your fingers like before all at once. But if there's a 0 on the line, that means you don't press down on any frets and just play the string as is. So when you strum these four strings, you'll play the C chord.
There are also other little symbols that tabs show. Some basic ones are:
h - hammer-on
p - pull-off
~ - vibrato
s, /, \ - slide
x - mute
I'm thinking maybe your book will show you what those mean, but if it doesn't, you can always ask again. Good luck and I hope that made sense.
References :
August 15th, 2007 at 9:11 am
yeah, don't confuse yourself, tabs are NOT at all the same as reading music. i'm glad you're learning how to read notes on a staff, that will make you a musician, not just a guitarist.
tabs simply show you a diagram of the guitar fretboard and where to put your fingers, and when.
as the other answerers have described, there are 6 lines, each one corresponds to a string, they tell you what fret to start at, then they give you numbers that correspond to what fret/finger to use.
tabs are a shortcut. it's harder to actually read notes. once you make that visual connection between the guitar fretboard and tabs, you'll be able to play tabs. reading music takes a little more work, but it's worth it.
References :
August 16th, 2007 at 10:28 am
think of it as your gutiar laying on it's back there are 6 strings and 6 lines. the numbers on the tab are the frets and the lines are the strings. the top is the high e string. it is the skinnyest string and the low e at the bottom is the fattest string.
e————-
b————-
g————-
d————–
a————–
e————–
i will now give you an example of what a few notes and a chord will look like. i gave you a d chord. and a g, a, a after the d chord.
—-2—
—-3—
—-2—-0-2-0
—-0—-
———
———
good luck to you and i hope this is simple enough.
References :