What are tabs and how to play an instrument using them?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Any beginner guitarist has always wondered what tabs are. It all starts with the fact that a person picks up an instrument and starts playing the simplest song, for example, "A Star Called the Sun." But you always want something more: the fight gets boring, the music is ugly, and the chords are simple. In this case, you can learn a melodic song, and for this it is not necessary to know the notes. In tabs, strings are numbered from top to bottom. The numbers indicate on which fret the string should be pressed. Everything is quite easy and simple, you just need to practice for a few hours and you can go out to the public to perform your favorite song. With the help of such schemes, you can quickly remember how to play a melody, because they contain only numbers, lines and a few other elements.

Tablature and their symbols

We all wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument in childhood or adolescence. Tablature are sheet music for a specific device. They are written mainly for guitars, but also for bass guitars, mandolins, balalaikas, etc. When you open a table with numbers and lines on a computer, the question arises of what tabs are and how to play them. Costsnote that there are similar notes even for drums and other similar instruments. So why do we need such an alternative? After all, there are classical notes that can also be played. And all because tabs are easier to write, read, and their test format is more convenient to use, especially if you have a computer or laptop. Next, we will talk about the most important, namely what are tabs and how to learn how to play them.

Symbols and lines - symbol

Six horizontal stripes represent the strings. It's like looking at a guitar fretboard with higher or thinner notes at the top and lower or thicker notes at the bottom. Frets are marked with numbers. The advantage of tablature lies in its ease of use - you do not need to know the notes to play the instrument. Their minus is non-universality, because they are written only specifically for the guitar, balalaika or mandolin. If you need to play another instrument, then you will have to look for other designations and schemes. It is worth noting that there is no single writing style for tablature, so different authors may use different designations. Their files have comments to help you figure out how to play.

Step by step explanation

So what are tabs and what do the vertical and horizontal bars or numbers stand for? When a person starts playing the guitar, however, as well as on another instrument, he wants to quickly play some kind of melody, and not learn notes all day long, so this table with simple notation will help.

1. The six horizontal stripes are the strings of the guitar. They are counted from top to bottom, not like an instrument, the top band is the first string.

2. The vertical line that goes through the horizontal ones is the bar separation.

3. The numbers are the number of the fret on which you want to clamp the string. If everything is done correctly, then the melodies you use in tabs will sound beautiful and unique.

4. The numbers at the left edge are the time signature (as in sheet music).

5. From the fret number, stripes go down and connect - this is the duration. But the chords of the tabs of songs are not always prescribed, such a designation occurs, but rarely.

6. The Latin letters on the left are the strings below the note, but there may be numbers instead.

Other symbols

Tablature of beautiful melodies may contain other lines, numbers or letters. For example, sliding is indicated by the signs "/" and "\", they are put in order to say about the descending and ascending glissando. The letters "h" and "p" are legato, indicated between notes. In this case, the sound is extracted with the finger of the right hand on the first note, and with the finger of the left hand on the second. The infinity sign denotes vibrato. It is written as many times as the string should sound. There is also a pull-up "^" (band), which is indicated between two notes. This element is used when playing the electric guitar. "8b9" also means to bend a string a semitone, a quarter tone, or one tone.

If you want to take guitar seriously, thennotes need to be studied. Tablature will be useful only if the melody, its tempo and motive are familiar to you. In any case, the game will turn out to be interesting, and the song will sound beautiful, because the guitar is a yard instrument, to the sounds of which each of us grew up.