How To Read a Guitar Tab
Learning how to read a guitar tab is fairly easy. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that a guitar tab shows only where and how to play a note. A guitar dab does not show how long a note should be played. If the guitar tab has a music staff along with it, use the music staff to determine how long to play a note.
A guitar tab looks similar to a musical staff, but instead of having 5 lines common to a musical staff, it has 6 lines. Each line represents a string on the guitar. The lower line represents the E string that is the thickest. The next line up is the A string. The third line from the bottom is the D string. The third line from the top is the G string. The second line from the top is the B string. The top line is the thinner E string.
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Now that you know what the lines are, to understand how to read a guitar tab, you need to know what the symbols that you might find on a guitar tab mean. The most common thing you will see on a guitar tab is a number on a particular line. This means that you are to play that string on the specified fret. So if the line has a 3, you play that string on the 3rd fret. When a line has a 0 on it, that line is played open, with no finger pressing it. When you have a string of numbers in a vertical line, all of those strings are played at the same time. A string that is not supposed to be played will be indicated by an x. This is how a chord is marked on tabulature.
The next symbols to learn how to read a guitar tab is h and the p. An h represents a hammer on and a p represents a pull off. These techniques are mirror images of each other. On a tab, you will usually see these with a number on either side, such as 2h3 or 3p2. Essentially, a hammer on means you pluck the string on the first fret indicated and without plucking the string again, you place another finger on the second fret indicated. So 2h3 means play the string with your finger on the second fret and quickly place another finger on the third fret. A pull off is the reverse of a hammer on. To do a pull off, place fingers on both of the frets indicated, then play the string and pull off the finger that is closer to the body of the guitar.
Another symbol you might seen when you learn how to read a guitar tab is a b, as in 7b9. This means to bend the string at one fret so that it sounds like it is actually being played at another. Bending is a different sound from a hammer or even a slide, but have a similar start and finish sound. Someimtes a bend will have an r with it, as in 7b9r7. That means after bending the string from the first sound to the second, you bring it back. A bend is just taking the string and pulling it to make it change the sound.
The next symbol to learn how to read a guitar tab is the slide, indicated by a / for a slide up or a \ for a slide down. For example, if you see 7/9, play the string with your finger at the seventh fret, then move your finger up to the ninth fret. If you have 9\7, you start playing on the ninth fret and move your finger down to the seventh fret. The difference here between a slide and a hammer on/pull off is that you are using one finger to play both notes. The difference between a bend and a slide is that a bend you stay at the same fret but move the string to make it bend but in a slide you actually move your fingers up and down the neck.
Another symbol to watch for when you learn how to read a guitar tab is the v or a ~ for vibrato. To play a vibrato, you wiggle the finger back and forth on the fret indicated, similar to a bend, but faster. The last symbol you might see is <> around a number. This tells you to play a harmonic. Harmonic notes are a touchy thing to get used to. To do the harmonic, put your finger on the string, but don’t press it into the fret, and release the string as you pluck it.
