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Learn
How to Read Guitar Tab
You can easily learn how to read guitar tab without any knowledge of
music notation.
After all, when guitarists are learning the chords and notes for a
song, they need to know where to stick their fingers (...ahem!)
We'll start with a few beginner guitar tabs to get
you familiar with the tab diagrams.
Oh, by the way, tab is short for tablature!
The
basics of how to read guitar tab

This is the fretboard position that tab diagrams
mimick. It's the alignment of the strings we're interested in - skinny
string at top, fat string at the bottom.
...And here's the incredibly exciting blank tab diagram. We ignore the
frets on the actual tab diagram because numbers are added on each
string to tell you which fret your fingers should sit.
Now let's be a bit more
practical. The number on the diagram below indicates whih fret the
string should be "pressed"
Fret "0" is another way of noting just playing the open string, as it
is, without fretting it.
Click here to
play (masterpiece) >
This "0" applies to all strings and when noted on the tab diagram, it
simply means you do not need to fret that particular string.
Next!...

So in this example we're fretting the D string at fret number 3. No
biggy...
Click here to play
>
Notice how no fret wires are drawn on the diagram - we don't need them
because of those numbers!
Ok, so that was pretty easy
stuff - let's take things a little further...
We're going to look at part of
a lead guitar scale (actually, the first 4 notes of the G Major Scale -
not important right now!)
In the same way as the
diagrams before, look at the
one below and play on your guitar this sequence of notes, fretting the
appropriate string one after the other...

You'll notice I've put "finger" numbers below the diagram -
these are the fingers you should use on the related note, based on this
diagram:
I've
done this because it's important to use the correct fingers for comfort
and efficiency - your fingering in this example should make it so that
your actual hand barely moves (your fingers will though, obviously!)
Play it slow to start with,
speed isn't an issue here, we just want to nail these notes in the
order they're shown.
Here's how it should have
sounded...
Click here to play
>
Did you get it? Ah, I knew you would.
Onwards and upwards...
Guitar tabs are used for lead
guitar and representing
chords. You've just followed a simple lead guitar tab, so now let's
look at reading chords.

The tab above represents a chord I want you to play. Same as
before - position your fingers (as they feel comfortable) on the frets
accordingly.
The "X" means you should not
play that string at all,
the "0" means play the string, but don't fret it and the "2" means fret
the string on fret number...yeh.
Here's how it should have
sounded...
Click here to play
>
Incidentally, that was the A Major chord in tab form!
And that's it for now!
Hopefully, you should now be
comfortable with the basics of how to read
guitar tab. Tab is very versatile and lead guitarists use several
symbols to refer to certain physical playing techniques (such as
hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends etc.).
If you develop into a lead
guitarist, visit my lead guitar section where this tab lesson will be
expanded on.
Keep practicing, and check out
the other lesson rooms in the beginner guitar lessons hub...
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