Guitar tablature is a visual representation of where the fingers are placed on the fretboard of a guitar. While they can look confusing at first to read, they are actually very easy
once you get the basics down! Each number on the visual indicates at what fret the finger is to be placed, and the numbers are arranged in the order to be played. This is how to read guitar tabs!

Getting Started!

First off I’ll show you what the basic tablature visual will look like, in E standard tuning:

e: ————————————
B: ————————————
G: ————————————
D: ————————————
A: ————————————
E: ————————————

The thick string is located at the bottom (E), and the thinnest string is at the top (e). This is the basis of the fretboard.
The next thing you will see are numbers placed in these lines, which will look something like this:

e: ———————————— B: ———————————— G: ———————————— D: ———————————— A: ———–3–2–0—————- E: –3–2–0————————-

These numbers indicate where your fingers are to be placed, in what order they are to be played, and on which string to be played. In the example above,
you would first put your finger on fret 3 and strum the string, followed by putting your finger on fret 2 and strumming the string.
A zero on the tab indicates that it is played as an open string, meaning that there is no finger placed on the string and it is
simply strummed by itself.

That is the basics of how guitar tablature works. But there is also more to it! Next I’ll demonstrate what a chord to be played
would look like in guitar tab:

e: –2——————————— B: –3——1————————– G: –2——0————————– D: ———-2————————– A: ———-3————————– E: ————————————

The example above would indicate a (D) Chord, followed by a (C) chord. Three fingers would be placed on the fretboard simultaneously
for the (C) chord and strummed once, and then three fingers would be placed on the fretboard simultaneously and strummed
fo the (D) chord and strummed once.

That is how a single note and a chord are played on a guitar. This is the basis for any type of tab you would read and any song
you would play. Next will come the symbols that indicate different movements on those strings, such as slides and bends. These are
common symbols you would find while reading a tab:

• b bend
• / slide up
• \ slide down
• h hammer-on
• p pull-off

Many tabs have their own key for their song, while others don’t. After reading through many tabs you will learn these and other
more complex ones and they will become second nature.

Here is an example of what a bend would look like incorporated into a tab:

e: ———————————— B: ———————————— G: ———8b10——————— D: ———————————— A: ———————————— E: ————————————

This would indicate bending the string behind the 8th fret up to the pitch of the string at the 10th fret. The next technique to master
is the hammer-on and pull-off, as well as the combination of the two.

e: ———————————— B: ———————————— G: ———————————— D: ——–7p5———————– A: —5h7——-5h7p5————- E: ————————————

The “5h7″ is telling you to have one finger on the 5th fret, pick the string, and shortly after use a different finger to
tap hard on the 7th fret and have it remain there. This will produce two different pitches, with one pick.
The “7p5″ is telling you to have one finger on the 7th fret and one on the 5th, pick the string and shortly after pluck
the finger on the 7th fret off resulting in two different pitches, with one pick.
The “5h7p5″ is a combination of the two. With this you are to have a finger on the 5th fret and do a hammer-on followed by
a pull-off, resulting in 3 different pitch changes, with one pick of the string.

A Slide up is sliding the finger from one note to the next, and would look like this:

e: ———————————— B: ———————————— G: ———12/14——————- D: —————–10/12———– A: ———————————— E: ————————————

A slide down would be the same motion, but going in the opposite direction.

Those are the basics of reading guitar tablature! While it may be slow at first, once you are able to master this skill (which
really will not take a long time) you will be playing all of your favorite songs. It’s a very good feeling to be able to hear a
great song on the radio and be able to jump online and find the guitar tablature already made out for you, and all you have to do
is read the tabs and are able to play it in no time!

When you put all of these aspects together, you can play beautiful pieces of music such as this:

That’s all I have for tablature reading for now my friends, for more valuable guitar information roam around the site and hopefully you can find everything you are looking for! If not, feel free to contact me and request any type of information you may be seeking. I hope I helped you all out, thanks for reading.