Guitar tablature is a simple and easy way to read and play guitar music.
If you can't read music it's okay - you can read tablature easily!
If you can read music "just a little bit" - guitar tablature can help you read it easier.
Instead of using standard musical notation, tablature uses type-able (ASCII) & visual characters and numbers, and anyone with a computer can create it or read it. There are various forms of guitar tab, so we'll talk about general standards.
The more you practice playing guitar by following tablature - the easier and faster it becomes.
A tablature image (staff) has 6 lines - 1 for each string of the guitar.
The bottom line represents the 6th string low "E", and the top line represents the 1st string high "E", visually the same as your guitar.
The Tablature Staff:
Here is how a strum looks in tablature:
Guitar playing techniques are shown in tablature with letters and symbols:
| h - Hammer-On |
| p - Pull-Off |
| b - String Bend |
| r - Release Bend |
| / - Slide Up |
| \ - Slide Down |
| s - Legato Slide |
| S - Shift Slide |
| ~ - Vibrato (sometimes written as v) |
| x - Mute |
| P.M. - Palm Muting |
| xx(#) - Rake |
| t - Tap |
| Harm. - Natural Harmonic (sometimes written as <>) |
| A.H. - Artificial Harmonic |
| tr - Trill |
| TP - Trem Picking |
| \n/ - Tremolo bar dip; n=amount to dip |
| n/ - Tremolo bar up |
| /n\ - Tremolo bar inverted dip |
| <> - Volume swell (louder/softer) |
Following is a list of websites with guitar tablature for you!
| 1 | Ultimate Guitar.com - Tabs
Ultimate Guitar Tabs Archive - 300,000+ Guitar Tabs, Bass Tabs, Chords and Guitar Pro Tabs. Free lessons and claims to be the largest archive of tabs on the web. Also includes musicians' forum, music news, gear and CD reviews, contests. Beginner lessons include:
|
Free |
| 2 | MxTabs.net - Free Tabs
Free tabs. Site based in Madison, WI. Users are encouraged to create, edit, rate and review their own tablature interpretations of their favorite songs. |
Free |
| 3 | GuitareTab.com - Tabs
A-Z of free guitar tablature. The problem I find with this site is the number of popup ads. |
Free |
| 4 | Songsterr.com - Free Guitar Tabs
Free Lessons with the ability to unlock extras with a premium account $9.90 per month. Free guitar tabs with rhythm from beginner to advanced. Plays the music while scrolling through the chords visually, has the option to play half speed but you need a songster plus account for this. The plus account gives you the ability to download, print, zoom, half speed and more. |
Free Lessons + more for 9.90/Month |
| 5 | Chordie.com - Free Guitar Chords Charts & Tabs
Based in Norway. In addition to 133 free video tutorials, this site has guitar tabs, guitar chords, and lyrics. The site formats your tabs, lets you transpose them into a different key and store them in your personal songbook. |
Free |
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