Learn How to Read Guitar Tabs

Guitar tablature, or guitar tabs, are a common way to learn guitar without knowing how to read traditional music notation. Guitar tabs use a series of 6 lines to represent the strings of the guitar, with the low E string being on the bottom. Numbers are placed on these lines to show which fret is used to play a note or chord for each guitar string. Stacked numbers in guitar tabs represent a chord as seen below (shown in standard tuning):

      E                    A                    
e|----0----0----0----0--|--0----0----0----0----|
B|----0----0----0----0--|--2----2----2----2----|
G|----1----1----1----1--|--2----2----2----2----|
D|----2----2----2----2--|--2----2----2----2----|
A|----2----2----2----2--|--0----0----0----0----|
E|----0----0----0----0--|----------------------|
		

The guitar tab above shows the E major and A major chords. Open strings are tabbed with a "0" since they are not fretted on the neck of the guitar. Play only the strings that have a number on them.