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    Tablature, or Tab, is a notation system used by most modern guitar books, magazines and the internet to explain which notes to play in a song or exercise.

    Tablature, has only made a re-appearance in the last few decades, but the system dates back to medieval times. It allows guitarists who can not read standard notation to 'read' and play guitar music.

    Tablature can be used by itself, though it is often used with standard music notation (staff and notes)

    Tablature has six lines which represent the six strings of a guitar as shown in the diagram above.

    The numbers name the fret to be played.

0 = an open string (no fingers)

1 = the first fret, 2 = the second fret, etc.

    Tablature is ‘read’ from left to right.

    The numbers indicate which fret of a particular string is played to achieve the desired note.

    If there are two numbers in a row, that note is played twice.

    If there are numbers 'stacked' one above the other those notes are played together, as a chord or interval.

The Tablature diagram above tells us to play:

The 3rd fret on the D string 2 times, then

the unfretted G string 1 time,

the 3rd fret on the D String 1 time,

the 3rd fret on the G string 1 time and finally

the 2nd fret on the G string 1 time

(can you name the song?)

A few words of caution about tabs.

   Unfortunately tablature has two major shortcomings.

The first one is that, unless you know how the song is supposed to sound, you will not know the correct timing of the notes or the correct speed (tempo) of the song.

   The second drawback is not about tablature itself, but is about tablature on the internet.

    Tablature is a great way of learning your favorite songs, and the internet is full tabs, but almost all of these tabs are written by guitarists like you and I, and not the original artist. Therefore, many tabs are incorrect as they are only as good as the guitarists who wrote them. The most common mistakes I have found from tabs brought in by students are:

notes written in hard to play positions

missing notes or extra notes

mislabeled or totally incorrect chords

    So, when looking for your favorite song tabs, it is a good idea to check out several versions. The more versions that you can find that are the same, the more likely it will be that the tab is correct.

for more information please call me at : (07) 5527 9387

Ken Rightnour

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