Joseph Alexander - How to Read Guitar Tablature: A Complete Guide to Reading Guitar Tab and Performing Modern Guitar Techniques (Beginner Guitar Books)

A Complete Guide to Reading Guitar Tab and Performing Modern Guitar Techniques

Published by www.fundamental-changes.com

Copyright 2018 Joseph Alexander

Edited by Tim Pettingale

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The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book Three: Beyond Pentatonics

The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Compilation

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Minor ii V Mastery for Jazz Guitar

Jazz Blues Soloing for Guitar

Guitar Scales in Context

Guitar Chords in Context

Jazz Guitar Chord Mastery

Complete Technique for Modern Guitar

Funk Guitar Mastery

The Complete Technique, Theory and Scales Compilation for Guitar

Sight Reading Mastery for Guitar

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The Practical Guide to Modern Music Theory for Guitarists

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Chord Tone Soloing for Jazz Guitar

Heavy Metal Rhythm Guitar

Heavy Metal Lead Guitar

Exotic Pentatonic Soloing for Guitar

Heavy Metal Rhythm Guitar

Progressive Metal Guitar

Voice Leading Jazz Guitar

The Complete Jazz Soloing Compilation

The Jazz Guitar Chords Compilation

Fingerstyle Blues Guitar

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In one form or another, tablature has been around since the 15th century when it was used to quickly notate music for the lute. While tablature (tab) has evolved somewhat, it still looks remarkably like the first instances that were recorded over 600 years ago.

Traditional music notation uses a system of five lines and dots to describe the pitch of a note. For example, the scale of C Major looks like this when written in traditional (standard) notation.

While tablature looks similar to traditional notation in some ways, the lines now represent the six physical strings of the instrument and the dots have been replaced by numbers. These numbers tell us which fret to play on which string of the instrument. The scale of C Major above can be written on guitar as follows.

The notes in the previous two diagrams are identical.

So why, when theres a perfectly good system of traditional music notation available, do guitarists prefer to read tab?

Well, the short answer is, Because its much easier to read!

On a 24-fret guitar, there are up to six locations to play the pitch E that occurs when you pick the high E string. The identical pitch can be played in the following six locations.

Where do I play that note?

If you play each one, you will hear that the pitch stays the same, while the tone of the note changes.

Most pitches on the guitar can be played in three or four different locations, which puts the guitarist at an immediate disadvantage when it comes to reading music. Each pitch on a piano can be played in only one location, so when a pianist sees a piece of traditional notation, they know what each dot means and which key they should press. Guitarists, on the other hand, need to figure out the best position to play a phrase or lick, so some trial and error may be required.

Tablature overcomes this, because it tells us instantly not only what note to play, but where to play it .

Tablature also has the advantage of being immediately accessible to read for a beginner. Thats why most guitarists prefer to read tab so much more than they prefer to read music.

If, on your very first guitar lesson, I were to teach you via traditional music notation, I would first have to show you what note each line and space represented. Youd have to learn what those notes were and memorise them. Then youd have to learn and memorise the location of those notes on the guitar neck.

Finally, youd have to decode the series of dots I wrote down for you, figure out which notes they were, find them on the guitar and then play them. Its quite an undertaking! Ive not even started talking about rhythm yet, and if I were to write a chord there could be up to six dots stacked on top of each other!

Using tab, however, I can quickly show you that the bottom line represents the low E bass string and the top line is the high E string, and that the numbers written on each string tell you which fret to play; no decoding necessary. Then we can get on with the important business of making music and rocking out!

Dont get me wrong, reading traditional notation is a vital skill for every musician to master, and you should make every effort to learn, but its certainly not a goal for your first guitar lesson.

Adding expression

Another huge advantage of tab relates to how guitarists play the instrument. Almost every note we play tends to be embellished in some way. To move between notes we can bend, slide, tap, hammer-on, or pull-off. We add almost constant vibrato and special effects too.

When you consider that there are multiple ways to bend a note or add vibrato, then its easy to see why traditional music is a bit clunky when it comes to notating all the nuances of guitar playing. Its so much easier to simply draw the desired manipulation of a bend or whammy bar trick in tab than it is to try to notate it traditionally.

As you can see, tab offers immediacy and subtlety in its notation of modern music, so reading it is an essential skill to master for every guitarist.

Even so, it is normal for tab to be combined with traditional notation because there is one thing that tab doesnt tell us rhythm. Its all very well seeing a fret number on a string, but how long should you play that note for?

Providing the traditional notation in the same system as the tab is common. Not only because some guitarists prefer to read music than tab, but because traditional music is very good at describing how long a note should be played.