Learning Guitar: How to Read Guitar Tablature

By Dan Cross, About.com Guide

The lack of rhythmic notation is the biggest flaw you'll find in guitar tab around the web. And it's a doozy of a flaw. Most guitar tab doesn't notate rhythm in any way, so if you haven't heard how the guitar part to the song you're playing goes, you have no way of knowing how long to hold each note. Some guitar tab does attempt to include rhythms, by putting stems on each number (to indicate quarter notes, eighth notes, etc), but most guitarists find this cumbersome to read. And besides, if you're going to include traditional rhythmic notation in guitar tab, why not just go the extra step and write the whole thing in standard notation?

Another major problem with guitar tablature: only guitarists can read it. While "standard notation" is readable by those who play any instrument, tab is native to guitarists, so those who don't play guitar won't be able to comprehend it. This makes any sort of musical communication with a piano player, or other musician, very difficult.

We've covered the basics of the pros and cons of guitar tablature. Now, we'll take a moment to talk about a few of the intricacies of tab - like how to read/write string bends, slides, and more.

This should give you all you need to get started reading and writing guitar tablature. Again, if you're serious about music, it highly advisable that you learn standard notation as well as tablature. The excellent Modern Method for Guitar will get you sight reading almost immediately.

Okay, enough talk... time to get started learning beginner song tabs. Have fun!