How to Read Guitar Tablature

If you can’t read standard music notation but are ready to expand your arsenal of guitar licks, I’ve got good news for you. Learning how to read guitar tablature is easier than reading standard music notation, and you’ll be able to learn new licks and tricks faster. Guitar tablature (or tabs for short) is great for new and advanced guitarists because you don’t need to know anything about standard music notation or music theory.

Today, we’re going to dissect guitar tablature. We’ll show you what the lines mean and teach you how to translate this to your guitar. You’ll also learn what the numbers on each line mean, what the different notations and symbols are, and how to play these on your guitar.

The Chart

Before we learn how to read guitar tablature, we first need to examine the chart or notation on which the tablature will be written. Tablature notation for guitar looks very similar to standard music notation. Where standard notation has 5-horizontal lines that represent a note, guitar tablatures have 6-horizontal lines that represent the guitar strings. The 6 lines stacked on top of each other mirror a guitar’s fretboard. The top horizontal line, or the first line, represents your high-e string, the second line represents your B-string, the third line represents your G-string, the fourth line represents your D-string, the fifth line represents your A-string, and the bottom line or sixth line represents your low E-string.

Blank Guitar Tabs

Below you’ll see two blank guitar tablatures. Notice the 6 horizontal lines for each tab. The first tab is what you will typically see for standard tuning guitar tabs. I’ve included notes for next to each line so you can see which string this is on your guitar.

Notice how the low E is on the bottom of the tab and on the top of the guitar. It’s upside down! If you’re a beginner, this is going to seem very strange. Unfortunately, there’s no tip or trick for flipping things rightside up. I recommend you start practicing. The more you practice the easier it will be to read the tabs.

Let’s Look At The Numbers

Great! Now that you know which string matches up with which horizontal line, you’re ready to start playing some tunes! But wait, the tabs we looked at are blank!

Let’s put some notes on there! For this example, we will be using the G-Major scale and writing this scale on our tab. The first note of a G-major scale is simply the G note. To play G, fret the low E-string at the 3rd fret. How does that look on a guitar tab? Take a look at the image below.

Did you notice the number 3 added on the bottom line or the low E-string? This 3 is telling you that you’re to fret the low E-string at the 3rd fret. Go ahead and put your second finger on the 3rd fret of the low E-string, like the picture shows, and pluck the low E-string. Sweet! A G-note!

Time Signature

Now, a lot of tablatures do not show you the time signature, nor do they space the notes on the tab appropriately to represent time. It’s worth noting that in the photo below, there are 4-beats in each measure. A beat is simply the length of time one note should be played. In today’s lesson, we are only going to have 1 beat per note. That means, that if each beat lasts one second, then you should play each note for one second. 

You play each beat in order, and you read the notes from left to right in standard notation and on guitar tablatures. To help demonstrate this, let’s add the next 3 notes to our major scale. See the image below of your tablature, which now shows the numbers 5, 2, and another 3!

How to Read the Tab

To read a tab, you start on the left side of the tab and imagine there is a vertical line. This vertical line is going to travel along, parallel to your horizontal lines. When the line reaches a note (or the next number on your tab) you will play that note. It’s simple!  Imagine each note is played for one second and begin play the first 4 notes of the G-major scale.

The first note is a G, which we’ve already played on the 3rd fret of the low E-string. The next note you see is written with a number 5 on the bottom line. This translates to the 5th fret on your low E-string. Once you fret the note, go ahead pluck the low E_string. 

The next note is a 2 written on the fifth line. The fifth line is your A-string, so you will play the 2nd fret on your A-sting. The next note as you move to the left is the 3rd note on your A-string.

And that’s it! You can now read a basic guitar tab! See if you can finish playing the major scale by reading the tab below. The notes your playing are G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, and finally, G again.

Notes Stacked One Above of The Other

Uh oh! What happens when two notes show up at the same time your imaginary vertical line reaches them? Does your mind explode? Thankfully, no.

Notes stacked one above the other vertically are strummed or played at the same time. For example, to write a G chord in tablature, all six notes that make up the chord will be written in a vertical stack. See the tab below.

Note, there are multiple ways to write chords for the guitar. You can write it using tablature, or a chord diagram. If you’re not familiar with chord diagrams, see our post on how to read chord diagrams to familiarize yourself. Knowing how to read both chord diagrams and tablature is important for guitar players of all skill levels. You can also write chords using standard music notation, which is directly above the tablature in the picture below.

What About Those Other Symbols?

Are they random symbols? Nope! Learning how to read guitar tablature requires a few special symbols that represent the unique things that can be done on a guitar. For example, you can mute a string, play a ghost note, bend strings a half or whole step, and a whole lot more. Look at the examples below!

Palm Muting and Ghost Notes

In a lot of songs, guitarists mute the strings with the palm of the picking hand. This technique shortens the amount of time a note rings, and it deadens the sound of the string. To make this sound, lay the palm of your picking hand on the guitar strings close to the guitar’s bridge, and pluck the strings. When reading guitar tablature, you will usually see a PM above the tab that represents a palm mute. Many times there will also be a line or dashes that indicate how long to continue muting your strings. It looks like “PM ——-|”

A ghost note is a note that is muted with your fretting finger, and no note is played at all. To play a ghost note, you will see an “x” written on the guitar tab indicating which string should be muted. Place your fretting finger on that string and pluck the note with your finger touching the string so no note is played. To put it another way, your place your finger on the string, and without pushing down or fretting a note, you simply pluck the string. It’s not an elegant sound, as you will hear a “thud” or “click,” but it can be a great way to get character and attitude into your playing. It can also make your guitar sound hesitant, tentative, or even like it’s stuttering. This gives your playing more emotion and feeling!

Bending and Slides

Another technique used by many guitarists are bends and slides.  A bend is commonly written with an arrow with an upward curve, and the string is bent up a half note or a whole note. You’ll first see a number telling you which fret to start the bend on, then the arrow with a ½ or 1 symbol for a half or full bend respectively. If there is nothing else written after the bend, you stop the note at the top of your half or whole note bend.

Sometimes you will bend a note up a whole note and then release it down a whole note from the top of the bend. This can also be done with half step bends. Usually, you will see the arrow curving up to indicate a whole step bend up, followed by a second arrow curving down, indicating that you release the note. You can also see tablatures that tell you to “pre-bend” a note, and only play the release of a bend. The bend up will not be played and is silent. You should only hear the note-bending down a whole step. This can also be done with a half step bend too!

Similar to bending, you can slide a note on the guitar. To slide a note, you will fret a note, and while holding the string down, you slide your finger up or down to the new note. You will see this written as a number (fret and string), a slash, and then a number (fret and string). The two numbers tell you where to start and stop your slide. The diagonal slash tells you to slide your finger from one fret to the other.

Hammer Ons & Pull-Offs

Hammer-ons and pull-offs are another commonly used technique by guitar players. It involves picking a note, and then either using your next finger to “hammer” the next note down without plucking the string. You get a smooth-sounding transition from one note to the other.

The opposite of a hammer-on is a pull off. To do this, you fret and pluck the note you want to play. Then you will pull that finger off (almost like you’re plucking the guitar string with your fretting finger) and let the note fall to the next fret. You will need to have the second note of the pull off fretted behind the note you’re pulling off, otherwise, you will just hear the open string.

Hammer-ons and pulls offs are shown with the same symbol, and you will commonly see an arc or a slur above the notes that are to be hammered on or pulled off. You will see a number (fret and string) with an arc or slur starting above it. Then you will either see a second number showing you what fret to hammer on or to pull off. Sometimes you will see two or three numbers, which is telling you to do two or three hammer-ons and pull-offs with one pluck of the guitar string. When the arc ends, your hammer on and pull off ends.

Vibrato

A squiggly line placed over the tab represents a vibrato To play with vibrato, you quickly give the string a very slight bend repeatedly to make the note “wobble” or “vibrate.”

Get Rocking!

That’s all you need to know on how to read guitar tabs! Now, go check out some tablature sites and get playing! I recommend you only play tabs that have 4 or 5 star ratings by users on any guitar tablature site. These tabs will be accurate and close to the record, so you will get the most out of these tabs.

And for those of you who want to continue learning the G-major scale, here’s a tab for the G-major scale using each string of the guitar. This is a great warm-up exercise that you can use for years. And if you move the scale up to the 4th Fret, you can play the Ab-major scale. If you slide up to the 5th fret, you can play the A-major scale, and so on.

I can’t wait to hear what you’ve been learning and playing! If you’re in the market for a new guitar, why don’t you check out the Gretsch G2655T Streamliner? It’s a fantastic guitar that straddles the entry-level priced guitars and premium guitars.

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Is this too advanced for you? Send me an email and let me know! I’d love to hear what you are struggling with, and I’d be happy to help you! Other players like you struggled with the same thing, so don’t be afraid to ask! I’m happy to set up a one on one video lesson with you to review how to read guitar tablature.