Guitar Chords: Playing the Guitar Tabs

Playing a guitar will be difficult if you will not learn to read or play a guitar tab. Guitar tabs is easier to read than music sheets or guitar chords. It is simpler and it is easier to follow in playing the guitar. Music sheets have five lines while for guitar tabs it has six lines which represent the six strings in the guitar. Learn Guitar tabs in an instant by following a step by step instruction. These instructions will explain every detail in guitar tabs and will also point out important things to remember.

STEP 1:

You should know which line in the tab is the string in your guitar. The bottom line in the tab is actually the Low-E in your guitar. Moving upward, the following lines are A, D, G, B and High-E. The important thing to remember is that you should read the tab from left to right like in guitar chords. Reading it the other way around will result to a different chord or nothing at all.

STEP 2:

You will find numbers in the tab which represents the fret. The numbers will be seen in each line in the tab. This will allow you to know in which fret you should position your finger. For example, you will see a number 3 in the line, which means your finger, should be positioned in the third fret. Do not be confused with the numbers you find in a chord diagram and a guitar tab. Learn Guitar tabs and you will realize that numbers can represent different things. This will make it easier for you to play guitar chords and playing the guitar.

REMINDER: There are some lines wherein you will find more than one number. It means that you should play a chord in the same point on the tab. The numbers you will see in a single line will appear a number above another number.

STEP 3:

In strumming, you should strum a string when you see a line the chord blank. How would you know that it’s blank? You will not see a number in the line. This is also called an open string.

REMINDER: When you see an “x” marker, muffle a string. To muffle is to wrap or pad the string to produce a dull sound. This may sound dull but it is how you will learn guitar tabs better.

STEP 4:

The rhythm in tabs could be the hardest part of learning to play or read a tab and playing the guitar. You will not find any rhythm notation that is why you will not get the exact rhythm of the chord or tab. You will notice that the numbers in guitar tabs are far apart from each other. This will allow you read the tab easier but that doesn’t mean that is the exact rhythm of the tab. It means that the closer the number to each other the faster you should play that tab. Try to play the tab slower (when the numbers are far from each other) and check if you got the right speed. Do the same when the numbers are far from each other (but this time it should be played faster).