A lot of the guitar music you'll find in songbooks, online and in apps is written as tab (short for tablature). Tab doesn't tell you the names of the notes. It tells you where to put your fingers. That makes it quick to learn, even if you've never read music.
Tab has six lines, one for each string of the guitar. A number on a line tells you which to press on that string: 3 means "press the string down just behind the third fret (on the side toward the headstock, not on top of the metal strip) and pick it". 0 means "pick the string without pressing it down", an .
Move your mouse over a number (or tap it) and the fretboard below shows where it's played. Press play to hear the whole tab.
The number is a fret, not a finger. Tab usually doesn't say which finger to use. That's up to you.
The top line is the high e string, the thinnest one. When you play and look down at the guitar, that string is the one nearest the floor, so beginners often expect it at the bottom. Remember it this way: the highest-sounding string is on the highest line. Or lay the guitar face up on your lap and look down at it: now the high e is the string farthest from you, at the top of what you see, just like in tab.
The fretboards on this site are drawn the same way, high e on top, so tab and fretboard line up string by string.
Read tab like a line of text: left to right, one number after another. Here is the start of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Press play and follow the numbers as they light up:
Every note here is played as close to the as it can be, which is where beginner tabs usually put a melody. The same notes can also be played higher up the neck (see The Guitar Fretboard). That's the strength of tab: of all the places a note can be played, it tells you which one to use.
Numbers stacked above each other in one column are played together: you strum across those strings in one movement. One new sign appears here: x means "don't let this string sound". Either don't hit it, or let a fretting finger touch it lightly so it can't ring. A line with no number in that column isn't played either. Start your strum on the lowest string that has a number: for C that's the A string, for D the D string. (In riffs you'll also see an x on its own. That's a dead note: rest a finger on the string without pressing it down and pick it, for a short, percussive click.) The names above the tab are , the same ones songbooks print above the lyrics.
These are the same grips you'll meet as . A diagram draws the grip on the fretboard. Tab writes the same frets as a column of numbers:
The same numbers spread out from left to right mean something else: pick the strings one at a time. Here is the C chord strummed, then picked string by string (an arpeggio). Keep the whole chord held down while you pick:
Plain tab tells you where to play, but not when or for how long. In "Ode to Joy" above, every number looks the same, so you'd play every note the same length. But in the real tune the E near the end is held longer, the D after it is short and the last D is long. Here it is played evenly, the way the tab looks. You'll hear the real rhythm further down:
The staff shows the rhythm: the dot after the E makes it longer, the flag on the D makes it short, and the hollow note of the last D holds it for two beats. Rhythm Basics, the next lesson, explains these signs. That's why many songbooks print the staff with the tab underneath, one for the rhythm, the other for where to play:
With tab alone, you usually get the rhythm from listening to the song. Tab in printed books and apps often adds stems and flags under the numbers to show it, much like the staff.
Besides numbers, tab uses a few signs for special ways of playing a note. Each example plays when you press its button.
Pick the first note, then bring another finger down hard just behind a higher fret on the same string, like a little hammer. If the first note is fretted, keep that finger down. The second note sounds without picking again.
The opposite: pick the higher note, then pull that finger off the string with a little flick toward the floor, so it plucks the string as it leaves. The lower note sounds without picking again. If the lower note is fretted, have that finger in place before you start.
Pick the note, then slide your finger along the string to the new fret, keeping it pressed down the whole way. / slides up, \ slides down. Some tabs write s instead.
Pick the note, then push the string across the neck, usually toward the ceiling, so its pitch rises. Use your ring finger, with the two fingers behind it helping to push. The word at the tip of the arrow says how far: "full" is a whole step (it sounds like the note two frets higher), "½" a half step (one fret higher). In typed tab, 7b9 means fret 7, bent until it sounds like fret 9.
Make a held note shimmer: while it rings, push the string up a tiny bit and let it back, again and again. The pitch wobbles just above the note and back.
Rest the edge of your picking hand lightly on the strings right next to the bridge. The notes sound short, dull and chunky, a classic rock sound. In tab, P.M. sits above the notes, with a dashed line showing how long to keep muting. Here four muted notes are followed by one that rings freely.
Here is a lick, a short guitar phrase, that uses most of these: a hammer-on and a pull-off, a slide down, a bend and vibrato to finish.
On the internet, tab is often typed as plain text, with dashes for the lines, the string names at the start and the signs from above (h, p, /, \, b, ~) for the techniques. It reads exactly the same way. One thing to watch: a number with two digits is one fret, so 8b10 means fret 8 bent until it sounds like fret 10. This is the lick again:
e|-----------|------5~-| B|-----------|-8b10----| G|-5h7p5-----|---------| D|-------7\5-|---------| A|-----------|---------| E|-----------|---------|
And "Ode to Joy". The bar lines (|) split it into bars of four beats, but you still can't see which notes are long:
e|---------|---------|---------|-------| B|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|-------0-|-0-------|---------|-------| D|-2-2-3---|---3-2-0-|-----0-2-|-2-0-0-| A|---------|---------|-3-3-----|-------| E|---------|---------|---------|-------|Next: Rhythm Basics