Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Are you passionate about playing guitar? Do you want to turbo charge your learning using guitar tab? Guitar tab is a popular music notation that can help you master guitar songs quickly and easily. Keep reading How to Read Basic Guitar Tab for Beginners to learn what it is and how it works.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
How to Read Basic Guitar Tab for Beginners #1: What Is It?
The word tab is short for tablature, which The New Harvard Dictionary of Music defines as:
Musical notation using letters, numerals, or diagrams to specify pitch in terms of playing technique of a given instrument, e.g., which strings to stop at which frets… (828)
It differs from standard notation in that it’s a diagram of the instrument that shows you what strings and frets to play:
- It’s as old as standard notation and is widely used by guitarists.
- Historical guitarists switched to standard notation during the baroque period, but before that they read tablature. It has since become popular again for transcribing pop and rock music.
- Conversely, standard notation graphs the notes (i.e., the sound) and the rhythms (i.e., the timing) rather than diagrams the instrument.
In this post, we’ll look at the basic types of music notation you’ll run into in your usual guitar transcription.
How to Read Basic Guitar Tab for Beginners #2: How Does It Work?
Guitar tab is basically a picture of the instrument’s neck:
- The horizontal lines represent the strings.
- The numbers on the “strings” represent the frets.
- A zero (0) represents an open string.
In professional transcriptions, you’ll notice that a guitar tab staff is paired with a standard notation staff above it:
- The tablature shows you the exact locations of the frets you need to play.
- The standard notation tells you what the notes and rhythms are. The counting numbers (which you’d add yourself) help you read the rhythm.
- If you know how to read both staves, you’ll be able to glean more information from the sheet music.
The example below shows you color coded tab, which I use to help struggling students learn how to read. For more information:
For an example of un-colored tablature, see the Alternate Tunings section.
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
How to Read Basic Guitar Tab for Beginners #3: Rhythm Notation
While rhythm notation may not technically be tablature, you do find it in a lot of guitar tab transcriptions:
- Rhythm notation basically takes the regular rhythmic notation and gives it an angular look.
- Then, instead of including every note of the chord, as you would in standard notation, they have a chord symbol above the rhythm notation to tell you what chord to play.
- In the example below, you’d play the power chord G5 on beat one, C5 on the “and” of beat two, Bb5 on beat one of the next bar, and finally F5 on the “and” of beat two.
How do you know what the voicing of the chord will be? That brings us to the next section.
How to Read Basic Guitar Tab for Beginners #4: Chord Frames
Chord frames, like the ostensibly named open F chord shown below, are another notation that fits the tablature definition from above:
- Chord frames help you play chords.
- When a guitar transcription uses rhythm notation, you can usually find a list of chord frames at the beginning of the score or sometimes even directly above the rhythm notation itself.
- That way you can know the precise chord voicing used in each part of the song.
It’s very common to find rhythm notation employed for secondary and tertiary guitar parts in rock and heavy metal transcriptions.
Like the regular tablature, chord frames are a diagram of the guitar neck:
- The verical lines are the strings.
- The horizontal lines are the frets, with the dark line at the top representing the nut.
- The dots show you where to place your fingers with finger numbers written on either the finger dots or below the chord frame.
- A zero (0) above the nut indicates an open string.
- An “X” above the nut indicates a muted string.
How to Read Basic Guitar Tab for Beginners #5: Alternate Tunings
Guitar tab is really useful when a song is in an alternate tuning:
- The example below is in open G tuning: DGDGBD from lowest to highest string.
- Reading standard notation is a pain in an alternate tuning, becase the tuning moves the notes around on the neck.
- Conversely, tablature makes it easy to read various alternate tunings.
80s Hard Rock Riff:
To learn how to play this riff:
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Guitar tab is a picture of the instrument’s neck.
- The tablature shows you the exact locations of the frets you need to play.
- The standard notation tells you what the notes and rhythms are.
- Slash notation takes the regular rhythmic notation and makes it angular looking.
- It’s used in conjunction with chord frames, helping you to know the precise chord voicing used in each part of the song.
- Reading standard notation is a pain in an alternate tuning, becase the notes have been moved around on the neck.
- However, tablature makes it easy to read different alternate tunings.
Have fun playing!
Related Posts
- Learn the Secret of How to Play Guitar Trills
- How to Play the Sad Sounding D Minor Chord
- D’you Want Some Music Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned Over the Years?
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
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