03 January, 2009

HOW TO... Read Guitar Tabs

This post shall be in relation to my brother's tabs which can be found on his website at http://grahamchoo.blogspot.com

As you all should know, my brother posts guitar tabs on his blog on the videos that I have posted up on Youtube. I shall attempt to teach those who do not know how to read tabs, to be able to read the tabs he posts.
     F#
e|---2---|
B|---2---|
G|---3---|
D|---4---|
A|---4---|
E|---2---|
Above is a tab that you can commonly find on my brother's blog. Notice that it is vertical. At the sides, there is e B G D A E. This corresponds to the strings on your guitar. "e" represents the 1st string, followed by B (2nd string) and so on. When you see the numbers in a vertical fashion, this means you strum the chord. In this case, it is a F# chord (notice the note written on top). This is how you read the tabs: 1st string (e) 2nd fret, 2nd string (B) 2nd fret, 3rd string (G) 3rd fret, 4th string (D) 4th fret, 5th string (A) 4th fret, and 6th string (E) 2nd fret.

   Em              A               Bm              F#
e|---------0---------------0---------------2---------------2-------2-|
B|-------0---0-----------2---2-----------3---3-----------2---2-----2-|
G|-----0-------0-------2-------2-------4-------4-------3-------3---3-|
D|---2-----------2---2-----------2---4-----------4---4-----------4-4-|
A|-----------------0---------------2-------------------------------4-|
E|-0-----------------------------------------------2---------------2-|
Next, you notice that sometimes you will encounter these kind of tabs. It looks slightly more complicated, but in actual fact, it's pretty simple to read. All you have to do is to read from left to right. In this case, since the numbers are not in a vertical fashion, it means you have to pluck each individual string from left to right. So, the first chord is an Em. Pluck 6th string (E) free string, 4th strong (D) 2nd fret, 3rd string (G) free string, 2nd string (B) free string, and 1st string (e) free string, and continue according to what you read. Yes, it's that simple.

e|-------------------------------5-5/7-7/9-7-6-----------------------|
B|-----2-3-5p3-5/7-5/7-5-3h5p3-2---------------7/8-7-5h7p5-3h5p3-2---|
G|-2/4---------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
Sometimes you will also come across tabs like these. Notice the "/" and the "h" and the "p". A lot of people have asked what these symbols mean. In short, CHECK THE LEGEND, it's at the bottom of the whole tabs, and it looks like this:

| /  slide up
| \ slide down
| h hammer-on
| p pull-off
| ~ vibrato
| + harmonic
| x Mute note
I hope this post has made it clear on how to read my brother's tabs. Enjoy learning the songs :)


3 comments:

Unknown said...

What's your brother's site?

Unknown said...

What's your brother's site?

daniel said...

Hi unknown,

my brother's site is http://grahamchoo.blogspot.com