How to Read Music Tabs

Learning to play a musical instrument is a tough and challenging task, but learning to read tabs is not. Understanding the layout of the lines of a tab as well as a number of special symbols including Hammer On and Pull Off will have you understanding written music in no time. The key is string awareness and fret position memorization, and an understanding of the correct finger positions required for chords and power chords.

Things You'll Need

• Guitar
• Music sheet

Instructions

1. Grab your guitar. Look at the six strings along its neck. Each line on the tab represents one of these strings. The first, or top, line on the tab represents the thinnest string on your guitar, each line represents the next thickest string, on down to the thickest string on your guitar.

2. Check for numbers on the tab. A number on a string represents the number of the fret to be played. So a "4" on the second string means play the second string on fret four. A "0" means play the string open, or without using your fingers to hold down to play a note.

3. Examine how close the numbers are to the left side of the tab. This indicates how early the note is to be played. The leftmost number gets played first, on down through the strings to the rightmost number displayed on the tab. When these numbers are lined up however, it demonstrates that you are going to play a chord on your guitar. In other words, all these notes will be played at the same time by holding down all the strings along their proper frets.

4. Look for hammer ons and pull offs. These are critical special symbols to understand before attempting to decipher a tab and play music. An "H" stands for Hammer On. A Hammer On means you play one note, and, without releasing that note, you slam your finger down onto a corresponding fret to play another. For example, if you see "6h8" on a tab, this means you must Hammer On from the 6th fret to the 8th. A "P" means you need to perform a Pull Off move, and this is simply a hammer on, but in reverse (you will be removing a finger).

5. Look for additional special symbols that occasionally crop up. A "B" requires that you bend a string up while playing. An "R" instructs the musician to release this bend up. A back slash requires that you play the indicated note, and then hold your finger on the string and slide upwards along the neck of the guitar and through the other frets. A forward slash requires that you slide down the neck. A "V," for vibrato, means to vibrate a string gently after you strum the note by moving the string back and forth slightly as it plays. Finally, an "X" means to use damping while playing a note. Damping is accomplished by muffling or distorting the sound by laying the palm of your hand over the string at the back of the guitar gently after strumming the note.