Guitar Tabs For Beginners

If you’re looking for guitar tabs for beginners, then here’s some information to show you some of the things involved.

Now, if you’ve been around for a while, you probably know what tabs are, and maybe you've tried already to learn them. You’ve also probably found out how frustrating they can be! Like anything else, tabs can be difficult to learn if you don't have a skilled teacher. You can struggle along by yourself (like I did) and maybe learn the basics of guitar playing, but you'll probably flatten out and find it hard to move on.

Take heart though, and keep at it!

Tabs are actually way easier to learn than normal guitar staff (music) notation. Using diagrams of your fretboard, you just put your fingers in the positions as shown in those diagrams. After learning the basics, you’ll be well on your way to playing the guitar competently. Starting with some easy guitar tabs for beginners, you could one day even start your own band, play for your kids or just learn for yourself!

So, if you don’t know, how do you read guitar tabs?

It’s pretty straightforward. There are 6 lines, and those 6 lines represent the guitar strings. The top line is the High E string and the bottom line is the Low E string (remember normal tuning: EADGBE). The numbers show the fret your finger goes on for that string/note. 0 (zero) means open string, (string played but no fingers need), a 1 means the 1st fret and a 2 means the 2nd fret and so on.

While tablature seems to a bit new (with the electric guitar), it’s actually a fact that tabs have been around for a long, long time. Way before the instruments we know today as guitars were invented, there were examples of tabs being used, especially with fretted instruments such as lutes. In fact, there are examples of tab in the Western world today which go back to the 14th century, even earlier in parts of Asia.

However, learning from tab is not problem-free. For example, rhythmic notation is critical in written guitar music, and it’s impossible to express using tab. So if the guitarist has never heard a song before (and I used to listen to old 12” vinyls over and over and over and over…) there’s no way of knowing how long a note should be held. Another issue is that only guitarists can read guitar tab. It’s not comprehensible to any other type of musician because it doesn’t really translate for any other instrument. It goes without saying that this can make musical cooperation with other instruments somewhat tricky.

There’s a huge number of sources for guitar tab in the world. As well as the more traditional songbooks and guitar publications, there are loads of web sites offering guitar tab. You can find them by searching by kind of music, by level of competency, or by guitar type...the list goes on. You have to pay for some, but a lot of it is free.

Interesting side note (which isn’t surprising when you think about it)…

After chasing the free music download sites for music copyright infringement, music publishers now have free guitar tab sites in their sights (sorry about that!). Although it’s not immediately obvious, tab-publishers are in fact publishing copyright material. Not sure where it will end up…

Still, get into it! Get yourself some guitar tabs and get playing!

Enjoy!