Guitarzzz

I’ve been milkin it lately. I will most certainly get into some more “advanced” lessons and techniques, but I’d like to get this little lesson out of the way. You’d be surprised how many people do not know how to read guitar tablature. Approximately 400 people search the web every day on “how to read guitar tabs”. New guitarists are born every day and don’t know how to read them : ) So here’s how!

The Basics

Here’s an example of what blank guitar tabs look like:

There are 6 lines. Each line represents a string on the guitar. Your skinny E string is the top line, and your fat E string is on the bottom line.

Here is what guitar tablature looks like with notes:

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The numbers on the lines(strings) tell you where to place your fingers on the fretboard. “3″ on the bottom line (fat E string) means you should hold your finger down on the 3rd fret of your biggest E string and pluck the note. Same thing goes for all the other strings and numbers.

Slides, Vibratos, Bends Etc.

Guitar tabs also have symbols to indicate string bends, vibratos and slides along with other techniques. Here’s an example of what you may find. The “p” means pulloff, the “~” means vibrato, the “/” means slide up, and the “^” means bend up:

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Chords

Here’s an example of the chords A minor, F and C

Listen to audio

And there’s your basic lesson on reading guitar tabs. It’s very simple indeed! I’ve included sound audio examples under all 3 tab examples.