What Is Guitar Tab?

Hello! If you're a beginner or new to playing the guitar or bass then you will have undoubtedly heard reference to this mysterious system called Guitar Tab. It's actually short for guitar tablature and is a simple and very easy way to communicate or record a riff or song to be played on guitar or bass.

Why Guitar Tab?

Guitar tab is very easy for anyone to read without any musical background or training and so is very popular across the internet for people who don't know how to write classical music notation. Although I learnt classical piano and music notation when I was little, when I started playing the guitar I heavily relied on using tabs to learn songs and to write down my own ideas.

How Does It Work?

Where sheet music has 5 lines in a stave, guitar tab starts with 6 horizontal lines which represent the strings of the guitar. You can see that it is useful to label them with the names of the strings (EADGBe) to read the tab correctly. Bass guitar is exactly the same but with only 4 strings. You can see from the image below that your low E string (ie. your thickest and lowest pitched string) is actually written on the bottom of the tab. This may seem upside down but I'm afraid thats the way it's commonly done!

What Do The Numbers Mean?

Each number represents a fret to be played on the guitar. Tab reads just like you're reading this article; from left to right. If there are two numbers above each other then you play both notes at the same time. This is how you notate chords. The number 2 means play the second fret on the string noted. The number 0 means play the open string. If there is no number then you do not play that string.

The Down Sides of Tab

Despite being very easy for anyone to read and write, tab does have some disadvantages. If you hadn't noticed, while we can notate the melody of the song, we can't write down the rhythm. Obviously if you don't know the song then this is very difficult.

In summary, guitar tab is a fantastic tool used to make simple notation on the guitar but is not a long term solution for communicating music. I use it to scribble down song ideas and riffs I've learnt but wouldn't use it in a more professional context. In todays age, you can generally find tabs for most of your favourite songs and tunes because someone has already tabbed them.

Happy tabbing!