How to Read Guitar Tabs

How do you read guitar tabs?

Read guitar tab like a picture of the fretboard: six lines for the six strings, high E on top and low E at the bottom. Each number tells you which fret to press on that line’s string. Play the numbers from left to right.

1. Find the string: the line the number sits on (top e, then B, G, D, A, E).
2. Find the fret: the number. 0 is open; 2 is the 2nd fret.
3. Pick that string.
4. Move right to the next number. Numbers lined up in one column are a chord: strum them together.
5. Get the rhythm from a recording, or from the staff above the tab if there is one.

In Frère Jacques above, G|-0-2- means “open G string, then G string at the 2nd fret”, and B|-0- means “open B string”.

Which line is which string in guitar tab?

From top to bottom the lines are high E, B, G, D, A and low E. The top line is the 1st string (E4), the thinnest; the bottom line is the 6th string (E2), the thickest. High E is often written as a small e.

It feels upside down at first, because the lowest-sounding string is the bottom line. Think of it as looking down at the strings from above: the string nearest the floor is the top line.

What do the numbers mean in guitar tab?

Each number is the fret to press on that string. 0 is the open string, 1 is the first fret (nearest the tuning pegs), and each fret raises the note by one half step. Numbers above 12 are high up the neck.

So 3 on the bottom line is G2, and 1 on the B line is C4 (middle C). Tab never says which finger to use; a good habit is one finger per fret: index for fret 1, middle for 2, ring for 3, little finger for 4. See the full guitar notes chart.

How do you read chords in guitar tab?

When numbers are stacked in one column, play them together. An open G chord is 3-0-0-0-2-3 from the top line down; a C chord is 0-1-0-2-3 with the bottom line (low E) left out.

Chord charts and tab show the same thing in two ways. A chord chart lists frets from low E to high E (G is 3 2 0 0 0 3); tab reads from the top line down, high E first.

• 3 2 0 0 0 3
• x 3 2 0 1 0
• x x 0 2 3 2
• 0 2 2 0 0 0
• x 0 2 2 1 0

Chord boxes show the six strings upright, low E on the left. Numbers in the dots are fingers (1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little); o = open string, × = do not play. The numbers under each box are the frets from low E to high E.

What do h, p, / and b mean in guitar tab?

h is a hammer-on, p is a pull-off, / (or s) is a slide up and \ a slide down, and b is a bend: 7b9 means bend fret 7 until it sounds like fret 9. Each one changes the note without picking again.

e|--------------|--------------|-3--/5--\3--0-|
B|--------0--h1-|-3--p1--p0----|--------------|
G|-0--h2--------|------------2-|--------------|
D|--------------|--------------|--------------|
A|--------------|--------------|--------------|
E|--------------|--------------|--------------|

Guitar tabs for beginners: what to read first

1. Open strings (the first tab above): learn which line is which.
2. One-string tunes, then two-string tunes, such as Ode to Joy and Mary Had a Little Lamb.
3. Simple riffs with power chords, like the one below.
4. Chords in tab, then hammer-ons and slides.

e|------------|-----------|
B|------------|-----------|
G|------------|-----------|
D|------------|-5--5--7---|
A|-5--5--7--7-|-3--3--5---|
E|-3--3--5--5-|-----------|

Classfern’s free guitar tools on lessonplanner.info run in your browser: the guitar tab play-along turns hundreds of out-of-copyright tunes into tab, with wait mode and an easy-key option.