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| Tablatures Tablature is a music notation system mostly used for guitar and bass guitar. Unlike 'standard' music sheets, tablature tells you what to play by refering to your guitar neck instead of music notes. It does not require any musical theory which may take several years of study. While admittedly flawed, it provides a simple and easy to read way of sharing music with other guitarists. How do I read tablatures? Reading tablature is quite easy and you should be able to do so by the end of this tutorial. First, let's look at some tablature: e|------------------------------------ <- 1st string b|------------------------------------ g|------------------------------------ d|------------------------------------ a|-----------------2------------------ <- 2 = fret number e|------------------------------------ <- 6th stringA guitar tab staff has 6 horizontal lines so a bass guitar tab staff would normally have 4 (or 5 in some cases). Each horizontal lines represents a string. The small string (yes, the 1st string) is at the top of the staff and the 6th string is at the bottom. There are some numbers located smack dab in the middle of the lines (strings). They simply represents the fret the tab is telling you to play. For example, the illustration above would tell you the play the second fret on the 5th string (5th line), therefore playing a 'B'. You could also find more than one number aligned vertically. That would mean playing a chord: e|-----------------0------------------ b|-----------------0------------------ g|-----------------1------------------ d|-----------------2------------------ a|-----------------2------------------ e|-----------------0------------------The illustration above shows a Major E chord. Note : A zero indicates an open string. There are also various techniques which can be illustrated in a tab staff. For example, a slide between two notes (fret 5 to 7): e|------------------------------------ b|------------------------------------ g|------------------------------------ d|-------------5/7-------------------- a|------------------------------------ e|------------------------------------Here are the most common symbols you will find: X = muffled string \ = slide down guitar / = slide up guitar I or | = bars h = hammer-on pp = pull-off t = tap with right hand (pick hand) b = bend to the note specified (1/2 note is the same as 1 fret) Unfortunately, there is not really any standards. Some 'tabbers' will use their own personnal notation system. Have a look at eMusicmag.com's tutorial on reading tablature. Where can I find tablatures? 'Tabs,' as they are referred to, can be found all over the web for free.
How can I create tab staffs? Of course you could use any text editor but that it would take an eternity to transcribe a whole song. There are a bunch of tablature editor that can help you:
Hope this helped! |
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