Looking at a guitar tab for the first time can be pretty frustrating if you do not know what the little lines and dashes mean and/or represent. So this lesson is going to go over what they are so you are a little less confused.
The lines are simply just the strings. They are not notes like you would see in a music class they are simply just the strings. It is actually just as basic as it sounds.
In standard tuning the line at the top represents the high e string. If you are not sure what that is, the high e string is the string that is the smallest in width. When holding a guitar in your lap the high e string is the string that is closest to the floor. Then the strings go down in order starting with the high e string then b, g, d, a, and low e strings respectfully.
Of course people use guitar tab for other tunings but for the sake of this first lesson we’re going to keep it simple and just talk about standard tuning. If you want to see a video of how to tune your guitar to standard tuning click the link above where it says standard tuning..
Guitar tab is setup like this for one reason. To keep it simple. As I talked about in the introduction to the guitar tab series numbers go on the lines, and these numbers actually respresent which frets you are going to be playing.
I will get to that in the next lesson, but for now just get used to what strings are what. It will make things a lot easier for you if you want to learn how to read guitar tab and essentially learn how to play the guitar the way that you want to.
<< CHECK OUT THE OTHER LESSONS IN THIS SERIES >>
If I told you that there was a way to learn how to play just about any song you wanted to on guitar without being that experienced would you believe me? Well most of you probably don’t. You may be thinking some of these things:
- I don’t know how to read music.
- It sounds way to complicated.
- I just started to play.
- There is just absolutely no way.
Well there is a way, and it really is not that hard. It is called guitar tablature or as many people call it: “guitar tab” for short. If you don’t believe me that guitar tab is so often used open a new tab and go to Google. Type in the name of a song you want to learn on guitar followed by the words guitar tab. See if anything comes up… Guess what, it’s also free 
This is what guitar tabs allow you to do:
- Read music by looking at numbers on the different strings.
- Learn where your fingers go by reading the guitar tab.
- Play the song you are learning back to yourself while playing along with the guitar tab you just learned.
It really is just as easy as that. Well actually it is not that easy. Just like anything else with learning how to play guitar it gets way easier with practice. The more that you practice the easier it will come to you.
What I’m going to be going over in the next several posts are lessons on how to read and play guitar tab. If you are interested in how to play guitar I would strongly suggest reading the articles I post in the next several days. Good luck and really it is not that hard.
<< CHECK OUT THE OTHER LESSONS IN THIS SERIES >>
Eggnog - Drawing of a Guitar Player - by Jeremiah (Click the drawing to see it's full size)
This picture was drawn by my buddy Jeremiah with a pencil. It’s some guitar player, playing the guitar.
By the looks of it, this guy is really feeling the music because his head is up against the body of the guitar. I really liked this piece so I threw it up here on the blog.
If anyone is interested in purchasing a copy of this contact me by emailing me and I’ll get a hold of Jeremiah for you.
If you think this drawing is cool like I do make sure to share it with your Facebook friends by copying the URL above into your Facebook status! Comments to this post are also appreciated.
Just like how you like listening to your favorite songs loud, someone who likes to play guitar is going to like to listen to themselves play loudly.
Yes, some of you are going to be the shy type and not want anyone else to hear what you are doing while you are practicing. Hiding your knowledge and experience to show off at an appropriate time. Or maybe, you just play for yourself.
Most of you will play guitar loud. When you play acoustic, you slam down on the strings to try to get as much volume out of the guitar as possible. While playing electric you will be slowly turning the nob on your amplifier to get more wattage!
Reasons for Playing Loud
- Read The Rest…
Think of something that you enjoy to do. Maybe it’s shopping, or maybe it’s going to the movies. Whatever it may be it does not matter. So you got that in your head of what you like to do. Alright put that aside in your brain for a second, and think about the instrument the guitar.
Do you enjoy the music a guitar plays? Do you listen to music regularly that a guitar is needed in order to make that music possible to be played? Did you understand that sentence (I know that probably didn’t make much sense but I tried re-wording it a bunch of times and that’s the best combination of words I could come up with. Whatever, I’m a musician).
But if you have been putting off playing the guitar, and you love the music that it plays… it’s time to learn! Stop putting it off and learn it. It’s obvious that you are passionate about it so fulfill the need that your body is telling you that is needed. If you wish you were able to play then don’t put it off.
Guitar and Passion Read The Rest…
