How to Read Guitar Tabs
So your itchin to play guitar like Slash on Guitar Hero and impress your friends. You want to learn songs and learn them fast, right?
If you pick up a guitar magazine or search the internet for guitar tab you will come face-to-face with the favorite way for beginning and intermediate guitar players to learn new songs or riffs.
Some will say that relying on guitar tab (short for tablature) is a crutch. I think there is a considerable amount of truth to that statement. If you want to break away from the crutch of learning how to play a song with tab, try the best you can to learn some of the song without the tab. Then when you are at your end, go to the tab and see how you’ve done. You just might impress yourself!
The basics of guitar tab is that it is a visual representation of the guitar strings. The bottom string is your sixth string (low E) and the top string is your first string (high E).
This example shows a run of notes on the sixth string and fifth string. The first note is the sixth string third fret (G note). The second note is the sixth string seventh fret (A# note). The third note is the fifth string third fret (C note). The fourth note is the fifth string sixth fret (D note).
There are several symbols used in guitar tab transcription:
h = hammer-on
p = pull-off
b = bend
r = release
\ = slide
~ = vibrato(or feedback, whichever applies)
x = make percussive sound with fretting hand
Good luck and enjoy learning songs with guitar tab. But also do yourself a favor and try to play the song without it first!