Reading guitar tablature
Read Guitar Tab.
Most guitar players never learn standard notation, and tab is the reason they don't need to. It shows you exactly where to put your fingers instead of making you decode pitches on a staff. Work through this page top to bottom and by the end you'll be able to pick up any tab online and play it.
What tab actually is
Standard sheet music tells you the pitch of a note, and you have to work out where to play it. Tab does the opposite: it tells you exactly where to put your finger, and the pitch comes along for free. That's the whole trade. You give up some information (mainly rhythm, more on that below) in exchange for something much faster to read on an instrument that has the same note in five different places.
Tab is short for tablature, and it's been used for stringed instruments for centuries, long before guitar existed. It's not a shortcut invented for lazy players. It's simply the most direct way to write down "put this finger, on this string, on this fret."
The six lines are the six strings
A tab staff has six horizontal lines, one for each string on the guitar. Read from the top down, they go from the thinnest, highest-pitched string to the thickest, lowest-pitched string:
The six lines, top to bottom
e|--- high E string (thinnest, highest pitch) B|--- G|--- D|--- A|--- E|--- low E string (thickest, lowest pitch)
This trips people up at first because it feels backwards: the string drawn at the top of the page is the one that sounds highest, and it's usually the string physically closest to the floor when you're holding the guitar. Once you've looked at it a few times it stops being strange.
Numbers are frets, not fingers
A number sitting on one of the six lines tells you which fret to press down, on that string. A 0 means play the string open, don't press any fret at all.
Open low E, then fret 3 on the low E, then open A
e|---------------- B|---------------- G|---------------- D|---------------- A|--------------0- E|--0------3------
Read it left to right, the same direction you read a sentence. The dashes aren't decoration, they're just spacing that shows time passing with nothing happening on that string. The first number you hit is the first note you play.
The single most important habit: always check which line a number sits on before you play it. A "3" on the top line and a "3" on the bottom line are completely different notes, on completely different strings. New readers often just glance at the number and guess the string from memory, which goes wrong constantly once a riff moves around the neck.
Chords: numbers stacked on top of each other
When two or more numbers line up directly above and below each other, in the same vertical position, you play them all at the same time. That's a chord.
An open E major chord, all six strings at once
e|--0-- B|--0-- G|--1-- D|--2-- A|--2-- E|--0--
This is the same shape you'd learn as an "open E chord" from any chord chart, just written out string by string instead of drawn as a diagram. If you already know some chord shapes, this is usually the fastest way to recognize what you're looking at: check whether the numbers match a shape you already know before you try to puzzle it out fret by fret.
What tab doesn't tell you: rhythm
This is the honest limitation, and it's worth knowing up front so it doesn't confuse you later. Plain tab, on its own, does not reliably show how long to hold each note, whether it's a quick note or a long one, and it doesn't show rests. All it guarantees is the correct order of notes and which string and fret each one falls on.
In practice, people work around this in a few ways:
- They already know the song. Most tab is written for songs the reader has heard many times, so the rhythm comes from memory and the tab is really just a fingering reminder.
- Spacing is used loosely as a hint. Notes bunched close together are usually meant to be played quickly, and notes spread further apart usually mean more space between them, but this is a rough guide, not a precise rule.
- Some tab adds rhythm markings above the staff. More detailed tab (often called "rhythm tab" or found in tab paired with standard notation) adds note stems and beams above the numbers, borrowed straight from sheet music, so you get the best of both: fret location from the tab, and exact timing from the stems.
Rhythm tab: stems and beams above the numbers show exact timing
♩ ♩ ♪ ♪ ♩ e|------------------ B|------------------ G|------------------ D|------------------ A|------------------ E|--0---3---5-7---0-
If you're serious about accuracy, and especially if you're learning a part you've never heard, look for tab paired with either audio or standard notation stems. If neither is available, listening to a recording alongside the tab is genuinely the normal way this gets solved, not a workaround for people who can't read properly.
Technique symbols
Beyond plain numbers, tab has a set of symbols for guitar techniques that change how a note is played or how it connects to the next one. These come up constantly in real tab, so it's worth learning the whole set rather than looking them up one at a time.
Hammer-ons and pull-offs
A hammer-on (written h) means you pick the first note, then sound the second note just by pressing a finger down harder on a higher fret, without picking again. A pull-off (written p) is the reverse: you're already holding two frets down, and you sound the lower note by lifting the higher finger off, without picking.
Hammer-on from fret 5 to fret 7, then pull-off back to fret 5
e|---------------- B|---------------- G|--5h7p5--------- D|---------------- A|---------------- E|----------------
Both make a smoother, more connected sound than picking every note, and both are picked only once even though two notes are heard.
Slides
A slide means you pick a note, then slide your finger along the string to a different fret without lifting it, so the pitch glides between the two notes instead of jumping. A forward slash / means slide up in pitch, a backslash \ means slide down. Some tab uses a plain s instead of the slash symbols.
Slide up from fret 3 to fret 5, then slide back down
e|---------------- B|--3/5\3--------- G|---------------- D|---------------- A|---------------- E|----------------
Bends
A bend means you pick a note, then physically push or pull the string sideways with your fretting finger, raising the pitch without moving to a different fret. Bends are written as b followed by how far to bend: a full bend (or "1") raises the pitch by two frets' worth, a half bend (or "1/2") raises it by one fret's worth. An r after a bend means release, bend back down to the starting pitch.
Bend fret 7 up a full step, then release it back down
e|---------------- B|--7b(9)r-------- G|---------------- D|---------------- A|---------------- E|----------------
The number in parentheses shows the pitch you're bending up to, so you know how far to push.
Vibrato
A wavy line, usually written ~ after a note, means vibrato: wiggle the string slightly and repeatedly with your fretting hand so the pitch wavers a little, adding expression to a held note.
Palm muting
The letters PM with a dashed line underneath a section of notes mean palm mute: rest the side of your picking-hand palm lightly on the strings near the bridge while you play, which produces a muted, choppy, percussive sound. Very common in rock and metal rhythm parts.
Palm-muted notes on the low E string
PM--------------------| e|---------------------- B|---------------------- G|---------------------- D|---------------------- A|---------------------- E|--0-0-0-0-3-3-0-0-----
Muted or "dead" notes
An x in place of a fret number means a muted note: rest a fretting finger lightly on the string, without pressing it down to a fret, and pick it anyway. Instead of a clear pitch you get a percussive click or thump, useful for rhythmic effect.
Ties and let ring
A curved line joining two identical numbers means the note is held over rather than re-picked, exactly like a tie in standard notation. The words "let ring" written above a passage mean don't mute the notes as you move on, let them overlap and ring into each other.
Quick reference
| Symbol | Name | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| h | Hammer-on | Sound a higher note by pressing down, without picking again |
| p | Pull-off | Sound a lower note by lifting off, without picking again |
| / | Slide up | Slide your finger up to a higher fret, pitch glides between the two |
| \ | Slide down | Slide your finger down to a lower fret |
| b | Bend | Push or pull the string to raise the pitch without changing fret |
| r | Release | Let a bend fall back down to its starting pitch |
| ~ | Vibrato | Wiggle the string slightly to waver the pitch |
| PM | Palm mute | Rest your picking-hand palm on the strings for a muted sound |
| x | Muted note | Pick without pressing down fully, for a percussive click |
| ( ) | Ghost / target note | A note played very quietly, or the target pitch of a bend |
A full example, annotated
Here's a short made-up riff using several of these symbols together, with an explanation of each move in order.
Example riff
e|------------------------------ B|------------------------------ G|--5h7p5---7/9--------9~------- D|-------------7-------------7-- A|------------------------------ E|--------------------PM--------
- 5h7p5 on the G string. Pick fret 5, hammer on to fret 7, pull off back to fret 5. Three notes, one pick stroke.
- Fret 7 on the D string. A single picked note, in between the two G string moves.
- 7/9 on the G string. Pick fret 7, then slide up to fret 9, letting the pitch glide between them.
- 9~ on the G string. Pick fret 9 and add vibrato, wiggling the note for expression while it rings.
- Fret 7 on the D string, palm muted. The final note is picked with your palm resting on the strings for a muted, choppy sound.
Notice that reading tab is really reading two things at once: which string and fret, and what to do to get there. Once both become automatic, tab reads about as fast as looking at a photograph.
Common mistakes beginners make
- Mixing up which line is which string. Always double check top line versus bottom line, especially when a riff jumps around the neck. It's the single most common source of wrong notes.
- Ignoring the technique symbols. Playing every note as a plain picked note, even the hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, makes a riff sound stiff and completely changes its character. The symbols aren't optional decoration, they're part of the part.
- Assuming tab tells you the rhythm. If you've never heard the song, plain tab alone often isn't enough to get the timing right. Find a recording, or look for tab that includes rhythm stems.
- Reading top to bottom instead of left to right. Tab reads in time from left to right, same as a sentence. Stacked numbers are the only exception, played together as a chord.
Where to go next
Tab tells you where to put your fingers, but not always why a note sounds the way it does. The fretboard explorer shows the scale patterns a riff is drawn from, the chord library covers every shape you'll meet written out as a stacked chord in tab, and the read sheet music guide is the natural next step if you want the rhythm precision that plain tab leaves out.