Traditional music notation was created to show what happens
on a piano, not a guitar. The guitar's fretboard is drastically
different than a piano's keyboard and requires a different
sort of notation called tablature. Unlike traditional
music notation, tablature doesn't take years to master,
it only takes minutes. Tablature gives us a visual representation
of the fretboard and tells you precisely where to play
on the fretboard.
Looking at a line of tablature is like looking down at
your fretboard. The six lines represent the strings:
The high string is on the top and the lowest string is
on the bottom like in the picture of the fretboard below:
Lay your guitar down in front of you so that the headstock
is on your left and the body is on your right. This is
the "view" that a tablature staff gives us.
Numbers Are Notes
The open strings are represented by a zero. In the tab
example below is a zero on the bottom string. This means
to play the bottom string open.
A fret to be played is represented by a number. The frets
are numbered like so:
To play the example below you would 1st pick the note
on 1st fret of the 6th string, then the 2nd, 3rd, and
4th frets.
Look at the picture of the fretboard below. The red dots
show the frets the tab above is instructing you to play.
If you see notes stacked on top of each other, as in
the example below, you are to play these notes at the
same time.
Fingerings (which fingers to use) are not shown
in tablature, so most times you'll have to figure them
out yourself.
