How To Read Guitar Tabs
Playing songs by other artists is one of the most effective (and most fun) ways to quickly learn guitar. I typically recommend that you try figuring out a song yourself without consulting a reference. This will push you to learn how to play by ear – a very useful skill. If you’ve tried and failed to learn how to play a song, however, I recommend you consult a guitar tab. If this is your first time looking at a tab, it will probably confuse you. This guide will help demystify some of the common elements of guitar tabs.
Here’s what a standard guitar tab looks like:
G D Dsus Cadd9 Cadd9 Cadd9
E|-333333--------------------------------|
A|-222222---------------3333---3333---33-|
D|-000000----000000-----2222---2222---22-|
G|-000000----222222-----0000---0000---00-|
B|-333333----333333-----3333---3333---33-|
E|-333333----222223-----3333---3333---33-|
This is how Third Eye Blind’s main chord progression to their song “Semi-Charmed Life” is written in tab form. You can see that each row of dashes (-) represents a guitar string, while each vertical column denotes musical time. This time is usually relative. It’s rare to find a guitar tab that actually has the timing worked out correctly.
The numbers in the tab show which fret your finger is supposed to press on a given string. For example, the first six 3’s along the bass E string indicate that you should play the E string while applying pressure to the third fret. Whenever a number appears in the same column as another number, you know that you’re supposed to play both strings at the same time.
You can see that in this case, the names of each chord appear above the top of the tab. This allows a guitarist who already knows how to play a chord, to learn the song more efficiently.
Special Guitar Tab Symbols
The above explanation should get you started on reading tabs, but you might discover that other confusing symbols appear in some guitar tabs. Take a look at the beginning of Led Zeppelin’s main riff to their song “Black Dog” below:
E|---------------------------| A|-7------7------------------| D|--5-6-7-----7-----------7--| G|---------5b---7-9-5h7p5----| B|---------------------------| E|---------------------------|
You’re probably thinking, “What in the world are those letters doing there?” Let’s take them step-by-step.
The “b” next to the “5” means that you should bend the guitar string at this note. When you bend a guitar string while holding a note, the pitch modulates to a higher note. You’ll probably have to experiment with how much you need to bend the string before it sounds correct.
The “h” and “p” symbols represent hammer-ons and pull-offs. This means you should perform either a hammer-on or a pull-off at this note. This symbol almost always comes before the note you’re supposed to switch to.
Other Guitar Tab Advice
At first, reading tabs will probably be difficult for you. Give it some time though, and you’ll barely even notice the numbers. You’ll just see chords and notes.
Again, I recommend that you try to play a song by ear before you look up a tab. This is really for two reasons: (1) you’ll develop an ear for chords and scales, and (2) it will make it easier to learn the tab when you’ve already made some progress on learning the song.
Whether you take this advice or not, I highly recommend learning other musician’s songs. You’ll often discover new ways of playing that you might not have found on your own.
