Reading Guitar Tab

Series Summary

Have you ever wanted to learn to play guitar? Maybe it is time to try picking up a new hobby and learn to play the guitar. The birth of the guitar is one that is not exact but guitar-like instruments have been used since ancient times. Through the years people have learned to play this instrument with some practice and determination. You too can learn to play this instrument if you are willing to put some work into it! Whether you are just beginning or have never held a guitar before this video series will lay out the basics of the guitar.

This collection of guitar lessons will teach anyone what they need to know to know the fundamental basics of playing the guitar and reading tab. Watch as our expert explains the parts of the guitar and how to properly match the tab up with the different parts. Learn how to play and read melodies, harmonies, trills, tremelo, and chords. By the time you are through watching our expert series you will be equipped to play any song from tab!

Video Transcript

"MICHAEL PLUNKETT: Hello. This is Michael Plunkett from Expert Village. In this series, we're going to be looking at the tablature that is used for guitar notation. But, first, we're going to look at how to read it and we're going to look at some various things that you might find written on tab and how to look about playing those. Tab is a really common type of notation that's used for the guitar. It's really simple and clear and pretty easy to follow, so that's one of the most positive things about it. There are a couple of negatives: They don't mark what types of fingers you should often use to play, and that can sometimes make what could be an easy passage or a riff on guitar a little bit more difficult to play if you're not sure what fingers to use whereas a lot of time if you're reading actual music they'll put that kind of stuff in there. Another thing about tablature is that they don't often notate the rhythm of the music, so unless it's a song that you're familiar with and it's a song that you know how it goes and see you can just look at what frets you're playing, it can sometimes be difficult to learn a new song by just looking at tab. But it has pluses and minuses, but it's very common, and for the most part it's pretty easy to use. So, we're going to go through step by step, how to look at and read tab, and find some different things in there and go through them."