Learn to Read Guitar Tabs from Expert Teachers
Meet Online Guitar Teachers
Austin K.
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Speaks Spanish, English -
Guitar from Music & Arts -
Teaches students 5 and up
Teaching Locations:
Online Guitar Teacher
I first started learning guitar at an early age. With the crazed boom of the video game Guitar Hero coming out I was determined to learn to play a real guitar. I studied guitar privately with instructors over the course of several years. Gaining a wide range of techniques, and approaches to the instrument. So pick up your guitar and let's start learning!
About Austin
Austin has been playing piano, guitar, and ukulele for nearly two decades. He devotes his time to studying music, and finding the most effective methods to teach students.
Recent Reviews
I recognize his passion for music and teaching when listening in on their lesson. I believe we found a talented and valuable instructor.
Thank you Austin.
Bill I.
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Teaches Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced -
Teaches students 5 and up -
Teaching since 1991
Teaching Locations:
Online Guitar Teacher
With 40 years of teaching and touring experience and a Music Performance Bachelor Degree, Bill can teach a variety of styles be it rock, funk, blues, pop, or folk in a fun atmosphere. From beginner to pro either guitar or bass TAB or reading music manuscript charts, Bill teaches his students how to be their own prolific guitarist harnessing their own style with sophisticated harmonies and techniques. Bill C I. has the ability to instantly elevate the proceedings on any lesson or session by channeling the spirits of his own personal guitar heroes, George Benson to Larry Carlton, as well as Jimi Hendrix to Joe Satriani.
About Bill
I'm a rhythm and lead guitarist & songwriter for for multiple projects with worldwide social recognition. I graduated from San Jose State with a Bachelor's of Music in jazz guitar, and am currently teaching around 40 lessons a week to students ranging in ability from beginner to professional. My ve
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Jeff B.
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Teaching since 1992 -
Math Major / music minor from Moorpark College -
Teaches Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Teaching Locations:
Online Guitar Teacher
You certainly have many options available regarding choosing a guitar instructor, but I have to assume that you would like to hire the most qualified teacher to guide you on the journey.
¡Hablo Español!
I Teach All Ages, at All Levels: Guitar (electric, acoustic, Spanish, slide), Songwriting, Music Theory, Composition Lessons, Arranging for Horns and Voice and Strings, Soloing, Improvisation, Classical Technique, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Latin, Funk, Country, Folk, Hindustani, Carnatic, and much much more!
I've studied the masters and will break it down easy to show you how to emulate them to create your own unique voice using the vocabulary and grammar that all musicians use all the time!
Improvisation, killer solos, and theory are my specialties.
I have a deep connection to The Blues – I played with the legendary New Orleans pianist Champion Jack Dupree and also gigged with Delta Bluesman Jonny Shines (Robert Johnson's best buddy).
Regards Jazz and Music Theory, I am a credited ...
About Jeff
People study subjects for a great number of reasons, consequently I customize my lessons to each individual student's needs and wants. We learn different ways. Some of us are more visual, some more tactile, some more intuitive, some more cerebral, etc. Understanding this allows me to adapt to eac
Recent Reviews
This enabled me to learn more quickly.
Lessons are most enjoyable. Jeff's teaching technique is unique; he makes the most of the time to teach as much as possible without overwhelming.
Jeff is very pleasant and friendly. He has a great ear so can pickup what hole is being played and whether it's being played correctly. This was over zoom!
Thank you Jeff!
David R.
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Speaks Italian, Italian -
Awarded Solo Recitalist Grant from National Endowment for the Arts -
Guitar Performance from Florida State University - School of Music
Teaching Locations:
Online Guitar Teacher
David’s 35 years of teaching and performing experience, coupled with intensive years of formal studies with many of the world's greatest guitarists, have afforded him a rich and in-depth understanding of music and the guitar. He shares all of this with his students in an insightful and uniquely original manner. David is committed to helping students enjoy and excel in playing the music they love.
About David
David discovered his love for music early on at the age of seven with the musical/movie: The Sound of Music. He and his siblings would entertain their babysitter by acting out the entire musical - singing and dancing along with the soundtrack. To make it even more fun, they would sometimes speed u
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Indigo S.
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Speaks english -
Teaches Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced -
Teaches students 8 and up
Teaching Locations:
Online Guitar Teacher
Guitar is my main squeeze. I love to help people enjoy the instrument as much as I do. learn to shred a rock solo, fingerpick a folk song, or transcribe miles davis. learn to play what you hear on records without resorting to dodgy you tube instructional videos or tabs. learn to understand the fretboard and use that understanding intuitively and musically. If you are already an accomplished musician, enhance your ability to employ techniques like chord weaving on the guitar, craft better solos, write more sophisticated chord progressions, etc.
About Indigo
Indigo has been working in the performing arts since she was biting ankles, first as a dancer and vocalist, and later as a guitarist. She's composed music for and/or sung dozens of international television commercials, spots on Law and Order and songs in Films premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival
Recent Reviews
Kevin T.
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Speaks English, Chinese (Mandarin) -
Teaching since 1990 -
B.A. Songwriting and Performance from Berklee College of Music
Teaching Locations:
Online Guitar Teacher
Guitar Lessons
From Beginner to Advanced - All Ages
Well structured lesson plan covering all aspects of music, and specifically designed to help you reach your individual goals.
Styles taught: Rock, funk, jazz, country, blues, fusion, folk, R&B, and classical
About Kevin
Whether you are either a total beginner or a professional musician with a recording contract, if want the absolute best music training available I can save you years of struggle and help you reach your goals 10x faster. My students have been accepted to the best music schools in the world, performed
Recent Reviews
Cory
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How to Read Guitar Tabs
Learning guitar is one of the most rewarding hobbies out there, but it’s intimidating to get started. If you don’t have much experience with reading sheet music, or playing instruments, musical notation may seem impossible to comprehend.
Don’t worry. With the right guitar lessons, even the most inexperienced amateur musician can eventually master the art of reading (and even writing) sheet music. But this is more of a long-term goal.
In the short-term, there’s an alternative system of musical notation that’s simpler, easier to read, and extremely forgiving for newcomers – it’s called a tablature (or tab), and it can introduce you to all the beginner guitar songs you’re eager to learn.
What Are Guitar Tabs?
Tablatures exist for practically every string instrument, with slightly different formatting between them. Tabs were specifically designed to be simple, straightforward, and easy for beginners to master, so you should have little trouble understanding the basics.
Essentially, tabs use a series of 6 horizontal lines to represent the 6 strings of a guitar. Rather than forcing you to learn about keys, note timing, and music theory, you can jump right in and mimic what you see written on the page.
You can find guitar tabs in a wide variety of different sources, including books, as an accompaniment to traditional sheet music, or more popularly, online. A quick Google search or a trusty tablature app can introduce you to a tab for almost any song you’ve ever heard.
How to Read Guitar Tabs: The Basics
So how are you supposed to read guitar tabs?
Let’s start with the basics. The 6 lines of a tablature represent the 6 strings of the guitar. The lowest horizontal line represents the low E string of the guitar – in other words, the string closest to your head when you’re holding it. The next string up is A, followed by D, followed by G, followed by B, followed by the high E string on the top horizontal line. You may see these letters marked on the tab; otherwise, it’s implied.
On each of these strings, you’ll see numbers written. These numbers represent the fret you’re supposed to press down before plucking a note on that string. So if you see the number 3 on the bottom string, that means you should press down on the 3rd fret of your instrument at the low E string and pluck it. If you see a 5 after it, you should then move your finger to the 5th fret, press down, and pluck the low E string.
Note that the number 0 in this context means you should pluck the string “open,” without any of the frets pressed down. Additionally, if any of the strings do not have numbers associated with them, they should not be plucked at all.
Timing is not inherently built into many tabs – at least not perfectly. The notes are written in the order they’re meant to be played. Tab writers often try to use physical spacing to replicate the timing between notes; in other words, two notes played in quick succession will be immediately next to each other, while two notes with a long rest between will be physically further apart. Some people even go further, using dashes in between notes as a system of timing to tell you exactly when to play each note. But it’s much more common to see tabs with minimal, if any, timing-related notation.
If you see multiple numbers “stacked” above each other in a single column, it means all those frets should be pressed simultaneously and all those strings should be plucked simultaneously. This is usually how chords are demonstrated.
For example, a column from bottom up that looks like: 3-2-0-0-0-3 is the open “G” chord.
How to Read Guitar Tabs: Advanced Notation
There are also some advanced forms of notation you should know about:
- Dead notes. Dead notes or “ghost notes” are produced by plucking a string that’s been muted by your fretting hand or your plucking hand (depending on the string). It’s a technique that can add texture to the music without producing a pitch. You’ll see dead notes represented by an “x” instead of a number.
- Hammer-ons. Hammer-ons instruct you to slam your finger onto the next fret in sequence, rather than plucking it to produce noise. You’ll see these represented by a curved line or an “h.”
- Pull-offs. Pull-offs are the opposite; they instruct you to pull off a finger while another fret is already pressed, resulting in the pitch changing as the string continues ringing out. These are also represented by a curved line or a “p.”
- Bends. In a bend, your fretting finger will raise or lower a string in order to gradually warp its pitch. These are a hallmark of electric guitar solos. Generally, these are represented by an upward curved arrow with a number next to it. A ½ means it’s a half bend, or that it should raise the pitch by a half step. A 1 means it’s a full bend, or that it should raise the pitch by a full step.
- Slides. In a slide, you’ll glide your finger from one fret to another on the fretboard, without plucking along the way. These are represented by a slanted line.
- Vibrato. To add vibrato to a note, you’ll vibrate your finger back and forth. This is shown with a wavy line next to the note to be modified.
- Neck tapping. Neck tapping is a technique wherein you forcefully tap a fret with your right hand to create an effect similar to hammering on and pulling off. It’s indicating with a “T” in most cases.
- Other techniques. There are a wide variety of other techniques you may see represented in guitar tabs. With online guitar lessons, you’ll gradually be introduced to all of them.
Other Important Items to Note
You might also see these items in the tabs you discover:
- Alternate tunings. Not all songs are played in standard tuning. If there’s an alternative tuning used, like an open tuning or the popular “dropped D,” you’ll see it noted at the beginning of the tab.
- Capo indication. You may also see an indication that a capo is meant to be used. A capo is a small device that presses down all the strings on a single fret, modifying the tuning of the instrument. This indication will tell you on which fret to place it.
- Chord boxes. Chord-driven songs often display each chord in a mini tab box, then display those chords by name (e.g., “Cm”) when they’re meant to be played in sequence.
How to Read Your First Guitar Tab
If you’re ready to learn your first song with a guitar tab, here’s what you should do:
- Find the tab with a reliable resource. First, look up a tab from a reliable source. Many online sources include user ratings and reviews so you know what you’re getting.
- Listen to the song. Before you even look at the tab, listen to the song and try to hear all the guitar parts.
- Play along at the beginning to see where the notes fit. Next, listen to the song and start playing along with the tab. Don’t worry if you fall behind or have to start over; this is part of the learning process. Try to replicate what you hear on the track, and if it sounds wrong, figure out why.
- Practice each section repeatedly. Focus on a few seconds at a time, then on one full section at a time. Keep repeating and practicing until you get it down.
Mastering Beginner Guitar Songs With Tabs
You’re not going to become a guitar master overnight, and you’re not going to be able to read tabs flawlessly your second or third time reading them. But even as a newcomer, you should be able to use tabs to master a wide range of beginner guitar songs and start your journey to becoming a legendary musician.
Ready to get started learning tabs and other guitar fundamentals? Sign up for our online guitar classes today! Learn guitar with any device, no matter where you are, as long as you have an internet connection. We have a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee on your first lesson, so you have nothing to lose!
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