How to Read Harmony on Guitar Tab

Unlike regular sheet music, the tab bar is made up of six lines for each of the six strings of the guitar. Notes are placed there by fret number, giving you a great play map. But some things are harder to read. Elements like rhythm and harmony are among the things you might find toughest to pick out of tabs. Here are some ways to recognize and respond to harmony in tabs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Look for stacked notes. Unlike melody, where you should only have one note at a time, harmony is essentially two or more notes played at the same time that complement each other. Find notes stacked on top of each other in tabs.
2. Count how many notes are played at the same time. If it's all six, or five, or even four, you may have part of a chord or a chord-like structure. You can recognize these and respond to them for easier play when you're following along with tabs.
3. Evaluate chord structures. Look at where the frets are for each string, then mimic the tabs with your guitar fingering. If you learn and memorize these, you can easily find them where they repeat in the written page.
4. Try techniques in between. You'll often see other notes added in between harmony note groups in tabs. You'll need to recognize techniques like hammer-on, pull-off, trill, vibrato or legato for these "extra notes" in order to really play along.
5. Practice changing fingering between each harmony group of chord structure. You'll find you can definitely pick up the song from tabs when you are able to play along by recognizing each note group and assembling your fingers on the fret board for each group of stacked notes. You'll be well on your way to playing through an entire song in tabs at this point.