Tablature vs. Sheet Music

Tablature vs. Sheet Music.

This a pretty big debate on which you should use when teaching music. Simply put, sheet music is the proper way to write and read music. It is what classical musicians use, but not everyone wants to play classical music. Tablature(tabs) is the way everyone else reads and reads music. Of course, I'm generalizing, but the point is I feel learning from tabs is the easier way to learn and understand playing. So, I will teach you how to read tabs. However, down the road I recommend learning how to read sheet music also.

Tabs are simple to read and understand. Tabs are written out on 6 lines, either horizontal or vertical, and they represent the 6 strings on the guitar. Vertical tabs are used mainly to show you chords, while horizontal tabs are used to show a riff or solo. For vertical tabs, the lines are strings E-A-D-G-B-E from left to right. For horizontal tabs, the lines are strings E-A-D-G-B-E from bottom to top.  The number on the string is telling you what fret to play on that string. The number 0 means the string is played open.
There are many symbols used in tabs to telling you how to play a note a certain way, like bending or sliding, but that's ahead of where we are at. Right now, we just need to be able to read basic tabs.

Here is the tab of the exercise I had you do last blog.

E -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0--1--2--3--4------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------0--1--2--3--4-----------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------0--1--2--3--4 ----------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------0--1--2--3--4---------------------------------------------------------
A --------------------0--1--2--3--4---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E ---0--1--2--3--4--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This week add playing this exercise backwards into your practicing.

E---4--3--2--1--0----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B---------------------4--3--2--1--0----------------------------------------------------------------------------
G--------------------------------------4--3--2--1--0-----------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------4--3--2--1--0-----------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------------------------4--3--2--1--0-----------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4--3--2--1--0-----