How to Read Guitar Tab…. It Is Not As Hard As You May Think!

"There's a lot of different forms of communication, but music is absolutely the purest one." 
 Duane Allman 

If you've learned the basics of playing the guitar, chances are that learning to read music wasn't a big part of your lessons. Luckily, there is a quick and easy system that allows guitar players to pick up the basics of a song, and that system is called guitar tablature (or tab). Learning how to read guitar tab can be done fairly easily, and without years of theory study.

So you want to know how to read guitar tab? You can find instructions online or in books, or even from a friend who is experienced. But here are the basics of how to read guitar tab:

The "tab" is a picture of the six strings of the guitar from top to bottom. As you learn how to read guitar tab, you'll have to notice the numbers that are placed on various strings to tell you which fret of that string to press. So a tab that has a five on the second string means to play the fifth fret on the second string. If there are no frets to play, the tab will usually contain a zero, meaning the open string should be played. If a string has an X on it, it should be muffled.

One thing to remember in learning how to read guitar tab is that numbers placed in the same vertical line must be played together. This is how you can learn the chords to a song. When you learn how to read guitar tab you can pick up a piece of music you haven't seen before and pick out the melody and chords in a short amount of time.

There are some fundamental flaws in the technique of how to read guitar tab, which include the lack of rhythmic notation. If you haven't heard the song before, you won't know the rhythm and that could be a problem, even if you know how to read guitar tab. Another flaw is that learning how to read guitar tab only helps you if you're not planning on playing with another instrument as accompaniment, such as a piano. The pianist won't know how to read guitar tab, and won't be able to make heads or tails of the notation.

You can learn how to read guitar tab by practicing very slowly at first until you get accustomed to the markings. You should be able to find the frets without looking after some time. Once you learn how to read guitar tab, you will find a lot of flexibility and freedom in your repertoire, and can entertain friends and family with short notice. The best way to take advantage of your knowledge of how to read guitar tab is to make sure you can read it quickly. Practice moving your fingers to the frets as quickly as possible and get familiar with the basic chords.

If you don't want to learn how to read guitar tab, you'll have to learn to read standard music notation, which can be a lot more difficult, or simply learn to play by ear. This may not be as hard as you think.You could be trying to figure out the different guitar wood descriptions.