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Basic Guitar Tablature Techniques for Beginners

Posted in: Guitar by dka120 on May 14th, 2009 | 0 Comments

A simple explanation on how to read the tablatures and how to play “Hammer-on”, “Pull off”, “Bend”, “Vibrato” and “Slide”.

Reading tablatures

Tablature – “Tabs” – can be explained as a simplified chart of what note you will play. Instead of showing single notes it shows you the string and fret to get the tone. It can be confusing to look at but is really simple when you start playing it. Unlike the usual chords the “tab” shows where on what fret one or more strings should be played, along the melody.

In the above tablature start of by picking the e-string (thinnest) without pressing any fret, because its a zero. As you continue reading the tab you it indicates that you should press the B- and G-string at the same time on the 1st fret. The tab then tells you to play both A- and E-string at the 2nd fret. The tuning is usually shown left of the tab. In the above example it’s the standard “EADGBe”-tuning. If you didn’t know how to read simple tabs you should now at least understand the basics.

Lets look at the techniques..

Hammer-on and Pull-off

Hammer-on is marked out in tabs as h. You play the hammer-on by holding by picking a string on a fret and hammer the next shown number finger on a higher fret. In the below example you pick the e-string on 1st fret with your index finger and hammer your middle finger on the second fret whit the string still ringing. It takes some practice but is not that hard to learn.

Bend, vibrato and slide

Bend is usually marked out in tabs as b. As the name says, you simply play it by bending the string. What happens when you bend the tone will get 1 or ½ tone higher, depending on how much you bend it. You shouldn’t bend it too much, but to the next string will do with most tunings (different tension on the strings). No need for further explanation.

Vibrato is usually marked out in tabs as ~. This technique is similar to the bending. By bending the string slightly up and down you will get a vibrato sound (compare with singing vibrato). You could also get a vibrato by sliding slightly back and forth or slightly releasing the pressure on the finger and push down repeatedly. You could use this technique on tabs that doesn’t have the bend marked out, but don’t play it on all notes. It will sound like playing a saw.

Slide can be marked out in different ways. A common way is s or /. As the name says the slide is done by holding down one fret and moving to another – up or down. In the above example you hold the G-string on the 5th fret and slide it, still holding your finger, to the 7th fret. In the next example you move both e- and B-string from 7th to 9th fret (similar to Jason Mraz – I’m Yours).