guitar learning techniques

Guitar tablature or tab is easy to read and should be easy to write if you want to send (submit) a song that you have done himself. The idea is this:

Start with 6 lines (or four for bass). This relates to the strings of the instrument. The top line is the highest string. and the line underneath the lower strings. Below is a bit empty of the tab with the name of the string on the left.

E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
B ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
G ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
D ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
A ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------


The numbers written on the line to show on which fret the string
with his left hand. If a zero appears, this means playing with string
open. Like standard musical notation, read from left to right to know the sequence of notes to be played. Part of the following tab mean playing a series of notes (EFF # GG # A) on the bottom E string by moving the fret in order, starting with an open string.


E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
B ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
G ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
D ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
A ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
E --- 0-1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 ------------------------------ ---------------


OK so far?

Here is the note being played simultaneously. If two or more notes to be played simultaneously, they are written above each other, again as standard notation.

The following example we have a block Kord G.

E ---- 3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
B ---- 3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
G ---- 4 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
D ---- 5 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
A ---- 5 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
E ---- 3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------


So this means play all these notes together as a chord.

Sometimes also seen the same chord written like this:

E -------- 3 ---------------------------------------- ----------------
B ------- 3 ----------------------------------------- ----------------
G ------ 4 ------------------------------------------ ----------------
D ----- 5 ------------------------------------------- ----------------
A ---- 5 -------------------------------------------- ----------------
E --- 3 --------------------------------------------- ----------------


Which means the ring with the same shape starting from the lowest string, so that each string is sounded immediately after the last string, but the notation will ring simultaneously. Below is an example of another with the same shape, but with a distance slightly larger - so you might have to pick the strings separately instead of slowly rang.


E ------------------ 3 ------------------------------ ----------------
B --------------- 3 ----- 3 --------------------------- -----------------
G ------------ 4 ----------- 4 ------------------------ -----------------
D --------- 5 ----------------- 5 --------------------- -----------------
A ------ 5 ----------------------- 5 ------------------ ----------------
E --- 3 --------------- 3 ----------------------------- -----------------


You may ask
- How do I know how fast or slow to play it?
- Are all the notation should have the same length?


This is different from the standard notation tab. Most of the Tab "no" will tell you the length of note. Usually it is up to you to listen to the song to get rhythm.

However - do not be disappointed. Tab should be able to give an indication of the time. In the example above all the notes are separated by the same distance so you can make the assumption that these notes have the same distance (maybe all of an eighth note or quarter) but this is not always true - it depends on who is writing the tab.

As a general rule, the distance from the note on the tab should tell you where the long notes and which are short and fast, but usually will not tell you if a note is a triplet or anything like that. Once again, this will depend on who is writing with the tab.

For example, here are some notes from the American National Songs in Tab. You certainly can see clearly that the difference in distance depending on the length of note.

E ----------------------- 0 -------- 4 - 2-0 ----------- ---------------
B --- 0 -------------- 0 ------------------------------ --- 0 -----------
G ------ 1 ------ 1 ---------------------------- 1 ---- 3 - ---------------
D -------- 2 ---------------------------------------- ---------------
A ------------------------------------------------- ---------------
E ------------------------------------------------- ---------------


Usually it's easier to play the tab of a song you already know better than songs you've never heard of that will be more familiar with the rhythms of familiar songs.
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