okay, i'm very very new at this and i'm sure you'll be to tell once you read my question. what is the difference between chords and tab? i have finally learned my chords but i keep reading all this stuff about tabs and when i look at them, i am completely lost. how do you read them, what do they mean and how are they different from chords? any help is greatly appreciated. thanks.
Tabs are just a way of writing down music so it can be played again later.
In a tab, there are six lines, representing the strings. The top line is the 1st (thinnest) string.
Numbers are placed on the lines to indicate what fret is played on the string - so tab can indicate a single note:
---8---
-------
-------
-------
-------
-------
or a whole chord:
---8---
---8---
---9---
---10--
---10--
---8---
The downside of tab is that it doesn't really tell you anything much about timing - standard notation is much better for that. The upside is you can learn to read tab in about 5 minutes.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Tough question, just because I'm not good at explaining things, but I'll give it a shot for you.
Tabs can't really be compared to chords.
Chords, as you've realized are (for example) F, C, D, and A. If you know those for chords, that will make my explanation a lot easier for you.
Tab (Tab is short for Tablature) is an easy way to read music (without rhythms though)
An example of Tablature can be shown with the D chord. The fingering would be open D, 2nd fret of G, 3rd fret of B, 2nd fret of E right?
So in tab, that would look like this
--2-------------------E
--3-------------------B
--2-------------------G
--0-------------------D
----------------------A
----------------------E
*Note: The order of the strings as listed above DOES NOT change.
The first number (starting from the top) is a 2 right? That represents the 2nd fret of E. The next number is a 3, which represents the 3rd fret of B, and the next number is a 2, which is the 2nd fret of G, and the 0 represents an Open string. Making sense?
For an A chord, the tablature would look like this
---0---------------- E
---2---------------- B
---2---------------- G
---2---------------- D
---0---------------- A
-------------------- E
So, the top number, a 0 , represents the open high E string. The next number, a 2, represents the 2nd fret of B, the next the 2nd fret of G, then the 2nd fret of D, and then the next 0 represents an open A string.
Another example of how tabs are used, is with single notes. I'm not sure what kind of music you like, so I'll just use a commonly known song as an example. The song is Sunshine of your love, by Cream/Clapton.
The tab would look like this (this isn't the whole song, its 12:30 in the morning, I got to get up in 6 hours though)
---------------------------------------- E
---------------------------------------- B
---------------------------------------- G
-12-12-10 12------------------------- D
-----------------12-11-10-----8------ A
-----------------------------8-----8--- E
So, how would this be played? You hit the 12th fret on D two times, then go to the 10th fret on D, and then back to the 12th fret on D. Then move down to the 12 fret on A, go to the 11th on A, and then the 10th on A. Then go to the 8th on Low E, up to the 8th on A, and back to the 8th on Low E.
I really hope that helps, if not let me know, I'll try again!
Good luck.
A great place to start is cyberfret.com This site will walk you through tabs and your first "real" notes. Tabs are a simple way of showing what notes to play by showing a simplistic view of the string/fret combination. Guitar Noise is great but go to cyberfret and begin with the Firstfret on the left. It will slowly walk you through reading tab or notes or hey... why not learn BOTH! Good luck.
Stan
thanks for all your help. i'll work on tabs tonight. i'm sure i'll be back with more questions as time goes on. thanks again.
