As a beginner, you may feel as though you’re learning a new language when it comes to reading tab – and in a sense you are – but the whole concept is actually really simple. Read on to discover this complete guide on how to read guitar tab. I’ll break down the basics, all the symbols you may come across, and I’ll suggest some free tab editors so you can start making your own – if, of course, a pen and paper is too old school…
The basics
At the core, each tab staff consists of six lines which represent the guitar strings. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the bottom line corresponds to the guitar’s thickest string (the low E string), which actually sits at the top when you hold a guitar. A simple way to remember this is: Low E string – Bottom line on the tab staff.
But what do the numbers mean? Simply, these just indicate what fret hold down. So for example, if you see a ‘3’ over the bottom line on the tab, this means hold down the low E string on the 3rd fret. And remember, if you see numbers stacked on top of one another, the tab is telling you to play those notes together, or play a chord.
Symbols
With the basics out the way, you’re ready to dive deeper. There’s a multitude of symbols you’ll come across, so it can take a while to learn them all. Just refer back to this guide when you come across one you don’t understand.
Letters
- h: Hammer-on. This symbol tells you to play the first note and then hammer on to a the higher note. Both notes are usually bridged on the tab staff with a curved line.
- p: Pull-off. A letter ‘p’ tells you to play the first note and then pull off to the lower note. Again, these notes are usually bridged by a curved line.
- P.M.: Palm-mute. Using the palm of your picking hand, mute the strings for the duration of the ‘P.M.’ notation.
- b: Bend. You won’t always see a ‘b’ signifying a bend, but you’ll find them Ultimate Guitar, one of the most popular tab sites. In other instances, you’ll see a bend notated using a curvy upward-pointed arrow.
- t: Tap. A letter ‘t’ tells you you need to tap the note with your picking hand. You’ll often see this surrounded by hammer-ons and pull-offs (‘h’ and ‘p’)
- x: Muted note. You’ll find this symbol on the tab line in place of a note. It tells you to lightly touch the string with your fretting hand whilst plucking the string.
Other symbols
- /: Slide up. You might see this symbol between two notes, telling you to play the first and then slide up to the second, or you may see it before one note, telling you to slide up to said note.
- \: Slide down. Same philosophy as ‘slide up’, but slide down!
- ( ): Grace note. A non-essential ornamental note.
- ~: Vibrato. Lightly shake the string after playing a note. This subtly fluctuates the pitch, breathing life into the note played.
- < >: Natural harmonic. Lightly touch the string over the note indicated with your fretting hand, and immediately release it upon plucking the string. You might also see a ‘N.H.’ above the note to be played.
Tab editors
There’s a range of tab editing programs out there that enable you to make quick and easy guitar tabs on your computer. Power Tab Editor is a great free option with pretty much all the features you’ll need to get started. Bear in mind however that it’s only available on Windows.
Another solid option is Guitar Pro. This highly popular software has a far more expansive feature set than Power Tab Editor – including multitrack tabbing capabilities, more tab symbol options and a built-in MIDI editor – and its price reflects that. Guitar Pro is available on a 30-day free trial, and a full licence is €69.95.
