There are very few people that likes to research, as it is a tough and time consuming task. Nonetheless, I have concluded that few guitar players understand guitar tabs, or guitar tablatures. Therefore, to help ambitious guitarists like you to finally understand guitar tabs, I made up my mind to do a research and to publish all my results through this article.

The definition of Tablature on Wikipedia is as follows: Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. Plainly put, tablatures provide an easier option to understand how to play your favourite song.

The fact that almost 90% of the people think tablatures are made for guitars is a misunderstanding. In fact, many instruments have tabs. If that instrument has strings and is fretted, most likely it would have its own tablatures, like the violin.

Ok, enough definitions and whatnots. All guitar tablatures are made up of 6 lines and every one of your guitar string is represented by these lines. the thinnest string, which is the High E is the 1st line and the thickest string, which is the Low E is the 6th string.

I am sure that the first thing you notice in guitar tabs are the usage of numbers. What are these numbers? These numbers are critical, they tell you how to play that song. For example, if there is a 1 on the 2nd line, 2 on both the 3rd and 4th line, that means Am(A minor) chord. After some time, when you arrive at this part, just strum Am chord. And if there is only one number at anytime at one line only, then that means you have to pick that specific note.

Below is an example of a guitar tablature(a random set that makes up NO melody).

G....Am..................Scales

--3--------------------------------------0-1-3----------------
-------1--------------------------0-1-3-----------------------
-------2-----------------------0-2----------------------------
-------2-----------------0-2-3-------------------------ETC-
--2----------------0-2-3--------------------------------------
--3---------0-1-3---------------------------------------------

Based on the example tab given, the first 2 chords to play are G and Am. After that, a C major scale follows. Press on the frets numbered and congratulations, you have learnt how to effectively read guitar tabs!

With the appearance of guitar tabs, many beginner guitarists have successfully played their favourite songs. Due to the easiness of guitar tabs, one can immediately play any song. Guitar has never been simpler! But, you are not encouraged to stop reading musical notes. Musical notes are still essential to play intricate and detailed songs. With that said, I hope you have benefited from this article. Have fun and good luck.