Reading Guitar Tablature
When you are starting off learning guitar, one of the first questions you have is, “How Do You Read Guitar Tablature?’
Guitarists should know how to Read Guitar Tablature. Music tablature is a style of writing using lines to represent strings of the guitar, and numbers to represent which fret your finger is placed on. It is a style of writing and reading music that most guitar players find easier to understand and use than the standard notation.
How do you read guitar tablature? There are 6 horizontal lines which represent the 6 strings of the guitar. The line on the top represents the first string (the small one). Consequently, the line on the bottom represents the sixth string (the big one).
A number, placed on any one of the lines, represents the fret that is being sounded on that string.
Therefore, if the number “3” is place on the 6th string (bottom line), that would mean that you place your finger on the 6th string at the 3rd fret and then play that note.
There are even more things that you can add to the representation to give even more information. Particularly timing.
Reading Tab Complete
Sometimes you will see a tablature chart, with the notation for the same score indicated directly above the tablature. The primary reason for this is so that you can see the timing. In other words, the time value for each note.
Even so, there is a way to indicate timing on the tablature score itself. Whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, rests and so on, can be indicated on the tablature by adding some of the stems and other nomenclature that is used in standard notation.
Eighth notes:
A circle around a number indicates a whole note. This diagram indicates that the third string at the 2nd fret is being sounded, and it is being held for 4 beats.
- Tablature is a numbering system for reading music.
- Tablature is a Guitar Friendly Style for Reading and Writing Music.
- Tablature can be traced back to the 15th century.
- Tablature is inclusive to fretted instruments.
What Instruments Use Tablature
Guitar, Bass Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, and Mandolin are a few of the instruments that frequently use tablature as a method of writing music. This doesn’t mean that they can’t, or don’t use standard notation as well.
Each tablature chart is tweaked to the instrument that it is being applied to. A six string guitar will have a tab chart with 6 lines, which are representing those six strings. Similarly, a 4 string bass guitar will have a tab chart with 4 lines, which are representing those 4 strings.
Do Piano Players Use Tablature Charts?
Piano players do not use tablature. The tablature style of writing makes no sense to a piano player or a horn player. Because of this, if you are a song arranger, it would greatly benefit you to be able to write in notation as well. It’s all about communication.