About Understanding and Reading Tabs – Lesson 5

[SynGates.com]

Simple tab reading to get you started.

 

[guitarkiddo05]

in order to read tabs, when reading them going down, the order goes E B G D A E. when reading upwards, it is E A D G B E. the numbers on the horizontal lines tell you what fret to put your finger on. (1= first, 2=2nd, etc)

 

[Mathmilam]

Ha! I admit I use tabs way too often. Really should start working on my ear more often.

 

[blest]

i feel like guitarists and bassists say use your ears, but then when they get to college or something, they have no idea ho to sight read. I teach myself guitar and take piano lessons, and my piano teacher has banned me from going on youtube and listeneing to the pieces I have to play, I think im saying learning stantard sheet music notaion and ear, they are just as useful as each other. I've notices on some of metallicas live videos, they have music stnads, now i doon't now whats on their but just saying

 

[Conor Mason]

I always had to use tabs in conjunction with musical notation and my ears, which I have luckily developed to be very sharp. That took a ton of practice, but it was worth it! I especially found this useful since the guitar can have up to 2 octave necks with the notes repeating themselves. An E note way up on the fretboard at the 12th or 24th fret will be notated WAY differently in musical notation vs seeing the numbers in tab. That also helped me develop my ear. Personally, I have found youtube to be, at best, useful when you can verify the guitarist really seems to know what they are doing, but there are a lot of bad tips too. I use that sparingly and go to the experts I trust. Cheers guys!

 

[Gilpow]

I consider myself lucky for not having internet when I was starting out. I had to use my ears. It was really hard for 11 years old me, but this is how I developed an extremely good ear.

 

[Gavin.J.F]

Whenever I play my D chord, it sounds sour. I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Yes my guitar is tuned, and I'm placing my fingers in the right places on the fretboard. Maybe I should Re-tune it?

 

[Ed Seith]

Whenever I play my D chord, it sounds sour. I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Yes my guitar is tuned, and I'm placing my fingers in the right places on the fretboard. Maybe I should Re-tune it?

It could be that you're pressing down too hard on some of the strings and pulling notes sharp. Try fretting the chord with just enough pressure to get the notes to ring, and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Andrew Milner]

Yeah, pressing too hard on the fretboard tends to do that. Either that or when you tuned your guitar one or more strings went out of tune because...reasons. Happens to me a lot.

 

[Gavin.J.F]

Okay, so I found out the reason. My Guitar sucks, but I'm getting a new one. The one I have is old, and the strings break constantly. The one I'm getting I s a Jackson Dinky Satin Black 6-string, I'm going to guitar center to try it out, and test if what ya'll are saying is correct. Thank you so much for the feedback!

 

[David Koller]

Hey everyone i just wanted to ask, when going E 0-1-2-3 and A-3-2-1-0 does your finger move ON the string or do you lift it up and then put it down at the next "grade" ?

 

[Ed Seith]

Hey everyone i just wanted to ask, when going E 0-1-2-3 and A-3-2-1-0 does your finger move ON the string or do you lift it up and then put it down at the next "grade" ?

Hi David! Proper hand position in a general state means "1 finger per fret," so doing 0-1-2-3 on the low E string should be using no fingers for the open note, then your pointer finger on the first fret, middle finger on the 2nd, and ring finger on the 3rd. If there was a 4th fret action, you would use your pinky.

Leave the fingers on the frets behind the one you're playing, so if you're playing the G note on the low E string (3rd fret), your pointer, middle, and ring fingers should all be on their respective frets.

As you get more advanced, there will be larger stretches between fingers, but this form is the foundation.

Hope this answers your question.

 

[Adin Shepherd]

Hey everyone i just wanted to ask, when going E 0-1-2-3 and A-3-2-1-0 does your finger move ON the string or do you lift it up and then put it down at the next "grade" ?

To add to Ed's comment, with that particular sequence you reference, after hitting the 3rd fret on the E to transition to the 3rd fret on the A I 'roll' my finger from the E to the A. After fretting the 3rd fret on the E with the tip of my ring finger as normal, I then roll my finger down so that the ring finger frets the 3rd on the A while the fingertip mutes the E string above.

I hope that makes sense, I am sure Papa Gates explains 'rolling' much better in one of the lessons.

 

[Lysu]

Hey everyone
I've been playing classic fingerstyle as a child and I know my notations really well, but playing by ear has been a struggle. I tried working on it countless times since I started playing and I always give up because it never works. If anyone has any tips on how to start and develop my hearing (which is horrifyingly bad), I would be extremely thankful.

(Sorry for my bad English)

 

[Arriana]

Okay quick question, does anybody else start like as a begginer but have a struggle with their hand, the positioning and how to "strech it" im very new at this and if I try to for example a C chord, my left hand wont be able to reach it , is there anyway I can exercise it to make it work?

 

[idssdi]

Okay quick question, does anybody else start like as a begginer but have a struggle with their hand, the positioning and how to "strech it" im very new at this and if I try to for example a C chord, my left hand wont be able to reach it , is there anyway I can exercise it to make it work?

I've been playing for 11 years and still struggle with certain stretches thanks to the size of my hands. In general the more you play the more comfortable things become, I can do stretches now I definitely couldn't do 5-6 years ago and let alone at the beginning.

As for an exercise for the C chord. First try only fretting the first fret of the B string with your index finger and strum the open G, first fret B and open high E. Once that's comfortable repeat but also fret the second fret of the D string with your middle finger. Once that's comfortable you can repeat that again but now also fret the third fret A string with your ring finger. This is the full C chord, if you have the possibility to record yourself trying it that would also help us helping you.

 

[RØßIŇ]

Hi

Okay quick question, does anybody else start like as a begginer but have a struggle with their hand, the positioning and how to "strech it" im very new at this and if I try to for example a C chord, my left hand wont be able to reach it , is there anyway I can exercise it to make it work?

Hi, I could give you a weird exercise I did daily on a consistent basis and I still do it. I used to put a rubber band on my hand and tried to open my fingers and then I played random stuff for 5 minutes with the rubber band on, i know it might sound weird but it worked for me

 

[Little Laguna05]

i feel like guitarists and bassists say use your ears, but then when they get to college or something, they have no idea ho to sight read. I teach myself guitar and take piano lessons, and my piano teacher has banned me from going on youtube and listeneing to the pieces I have to play, I think im saying learning stantard sheet music notaion and ear, they are just as useful as each other. I've notices on some of metallicas live videos, they have music stnads, now i doon't now whats on their but just saying

I am not at all a big musically talented person but I love rock and hard rock, and I’ve taken piano lessons. I never looked up videos on what I was trying to play I just followed the sheet music the best I could and it all pieces together so for example, The New World Symphony, never heard it before in my life and four weeks later I can play at least half of it just by looking at the notes, also when reading sheet music you could be playing with other musicians which also helps you stay in the same rhythm, speed, and all those other factors compared to listening to it for three weeks and getting it down by ear you will be more used to the way you learned it. I also think none of what I am saying makes sense.