Guitar Tabs For Beginners

How To Read Guitar Tablature

Guitar tablature was created for guitarists as an easier method than standard notation to read music. It's easy to learn guitar tab. Each string is represented by a horizontal line and a number on a line is the fret number being played. Guitar tabs can be used as an alternative to neck diagrams to display chords and scales as well as notes.

There isn't a recognised standard for the symbols used, but there are common ones in use. The most simplest type of tab is the ASCII tab. This is just a text file created from typing characters on the keyboard. Hyphens are used to represent the strings and numbers the frets played.

This is how an E major chord would look using ASCII tab:

e |-----0------|
B |-----0------|
G |-----1------|
D |-----2------|
A |-----2------|
E |-----0------|

The top line is the first string, high E string. The next line down is the second string, B string, and so on down to the sixth string, low E string, at the bottom. The first, second, and sixth strings are played open. The third string is played at the first fret. The fourth and fifth strings are played at the second fret. Because the numbers are in a vertical line, the notes are all played at the same time. The chord name can be written above it.

And this is a G minor pentatonic scale:

e |----------------|----------------|--------3---6---|
B |----------------|----------------|3---6-----------|
G |----------------|--------3---5---|----------------|
D |----------------|3---5-----------|----------------|
A |--------3---5---|----------------|----------------|
E |3---6-----------|----------------|----------------|

The principle here is the same. Each note played is indicated by a number, the fret, on each string. Here, the numbers don't form a vertical line so they are played one at a time.

Here are some common symbols used:

• h - hammer on - 6h8 - the string is played at the sixth fret and then a finger is hammered on at the eighth fret
• p - pull off - 8p6 - the string is first played at the eighth fret and the finger is pulled off to the sixth fret
• b - bend - 6b8 - the string is played at the sixth fret and bent up to the note at the eighth fret
• r - release bend - 8r6 - the string is bent at the sixth fret up to the eighth fret, played, and then released
• / - slide up 6/8 - the string is played at the sixth fret and then the finger slides up to the eighth fret
• \ - slide down - 8\6 - the string is played at the eighth fret and the finger slides down to the sixth fret
• v or ~ - vibrato - 8v or 8~

Here's a short lick demonstrating some of those symbols:

e |--------------------------------------------------10---------------|
B |-----10-12b14r12-10h12------------7--------10b12------12r10--8h10v-|
G |7/11--------------------11v--7h9-----7-----------------------------|
D |----------------------------------------8--------------------------|
A |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

The problem with this type of tab is that there isn't any sense of timing or rhythm. If you don't know what song the tab is for, you don't know how long the notes last. This is rectified in the next type of tablature we look at.

Metronome

Learn How To Play Guitar Software

This is one of my favourite guitar related software programs I have on my computer that I use regularly.

Metronome

Using a metronome is one of the best ways to practice scales. Regular scale practice with the metronome will improve your scale knowledge, speed, timing, improvisation skills, finger strength, and dexterity. Start off at a slow speed and gradually increase the speed as you improve.

Learn How To Play Guitar Chords

How To Learn Guitar Chords Easily

If all you want is diagrams, either buy a chordbook or go to this website:

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com

This website will show you more than you will ever need to know or use.

There are many different chord types. Some common types are:

• Major
• Minor
• Major 7th
• Minor 7th
• Dominant 7th

Some less common ones are:

• Major 9th
• Minor 9th
• Dominant 9th

And even less common are 11th and 13th chords. There are a whole lot more weird and wonderful sounding chords.

On top of all those different types, they all need to be learned in A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

The good news is that you don’t have to learn a ridiculous number of different chord patterns. And you don’t even need to learn about chord theory and guitar scales if you don’t want to.

Just to give you a little theory, the Major guitar chord is made up from the first, third, and fifth notes of the Major scale. The C Major chord would then use the C, E, and G notes.

While this is useful to know, it doesn’t help you to quickly learn how to play chords on your guitar.

I’m going to go into this in a lot more detail later with pictures and fingerings, but what you basically do is learn one or two different chord shapes and then learn how to play them on different positions on the fretboard.

Take a look at the website I mentioned earlier and look at the E Major chord. The root note of this is on the sixth string. The open E string is the root note of the chord you are playing. Move this chord up the neck of the guitar and place the first finger across the strings at the third fret to form a bar and you are now playing a G Major chord. You can go this any where on the neck.

One final example is the A Major chord. Look at it on the website. The root note is on fifth string this time. Place the first finger bar across the strings at the third fret and play the same chord. You now have a C Major chord and again you can do this any where on the neck of the guitar.

You now should realise that you can play any Major chord on your guitar from two basic Major chord patterns by knowing the notes on the fifth and sixth strings. As I said earlier, I will go into more detail later with diagrams and how to play these chords easily.

The Minor chord is only one note different to the major one. It's very easy to convert the Major patterns to Minor ones. Again, it can be moved to any position on the fretboard to play any Minor chord.

By mastering these techniques while you are learning how to play guitar, you will become a much better guitarist.