Guitar music has it’s own form of notation, called a tab, or tablature. Tabs are different from standard musical notation because they do not use staffs, ledger lines, key signatures, or notes. For this reason, acoustic guitar tabs are beneficial because they allow you to learn how to play the instrument without also having to learn to read music. Tabs may also be used as notation for other stringed instruments.
“Tabs” is short for tablature. Acoustic guitar tabs are like a little picture of your guitar strings. The first row is the top string and the sixth row is the bottom one. On each of the rows, or lines, the numbers indicate the fret you’re supposed to be playing. A 0 (zero) is used to indicate an open string, while an X indicates a muffled string.
In case you don’t know what a fret is, its the space between two of the metal bars on the long neck of your guitar. Most acoustic guitars have from 21 to 24 of these frets. Their dots are just there to help you in positioning your fingers.
Check out acoustic guitar tabs and you’ll notice that the numbers run all in one line, indicating which fret to use on the one string you’re plucking. Those numbers tell you that you’re supposed to be playing each of them individually. If there’s a number on each line and the numbers are on top of each other, then you’re supposed to play the notes simultaneously, strumming away on all six of your strings.
When reading acoustic guitar tabs, you may come across things like, hammer-on, pull-offs, bends and slides. A hammer-on may be represented by something such as “7h9,” with the “h” being the notation for the hammer-on. A pull-off would be noted in the same way, with a “p” instead of an “h.” A bend is noted by a simple “b” and a slide would be represented by a “/.”
After you’ve gotten accustomed to the notion of reading music by string position, search online for basic acoustic guitar tabs and find a tune you’re really familiar with to practice on. While the approach may be new to you, you’ll see that you can pick up its melody quickly this way now that you can read tabs.
You’ll pick up a tune much more quickly if you can also listen to it while you’re trying to learn it. You get more detail and an added feel for the beat, even with a song you think you know by heart. Acoustic guitar tabs make learning more enjoyable, and it wont take long to have a small repertoire you can trot out at parties or just jam around with in the privacy of your own home.