Learn · Diesis
How to read guitar tabs, and exercises that make it stick.
Tab is the neck looked down at: six lines for six strings, a number for the fret. Four rules cover it. Then Tab to neck, right here: a tab above, your neck below, tap where it says.
It works right here: no account, nothing to install.
Tab to neck
A number appears on a line of tab. Tap that string at that fret.
No clock, no end.
Until the first slip.
Tab says where, not which note: that string at that fret. The neck has no fret numbers here; find them by the dots, as on your guitar.
No clock, no end. Stop when you like.
This is one tool. Diesis keeps them all in one place. Every tool, your bests and your teacher's homework, kept for you.
Sign up freeHow to read tab
Four things, and you can read any tab.
1 · thinnest
6 · thickest
- 01
Each line is a string
The top line is your thinnest string, the 1st; the bottom one your thickest. The neck as you see it looking down.
- 02
The number is the fret
Press that string at that fret and play it. A 0 is the open string.
- 03
Left to right, stacked together
Read it like text. Numbers stacked in one column are played at the same time.
- 04
The rhythm is not written
Plain tab says where, not how long: listen to the song, or look for the rhythm written above the tab.
Tablature
What it does
Tab to neck
A number on a line. Tap that string at that fret on the neck. The same note somewhere else is wrong: tab says where, not which note.
Neck to tab
A place lights and sounds. Write it: the line and the fret. A miss tells you which of the two was off.
Read a riff
Eight notes of a pentatonic riff, with power chords if you want them. Tap them in order; a finished riff plays back in time.
Tab symbols
h, p, b, /, ~, x, P.M. and the rest: fourteen signs, each played as it sounds when you name it.
How to use it
- 01
Pick the part of the neck
Frets 0 to 3, 0 to 7 or 0 to 12. The neck has no fret numbers in these exercises: you find the fret by the dots, as on a guitar.
- 02
Choose a challenge
Practice with no clock, Against the clock, or No mistakes. Your best for each is kept.
- 03
Read, then tap
The tab shows one position. Tap it on the neck. Right turns green and the next one comes; wrong shows you what you played.
Questions
How do you read guitar tabs?
Each line is a string: the top line is the thinnest (the 1st), the bottom line the thickest. Each number is the fret to press on that string, 0 the open string. Read left to right; numbers stacked in a column are played together. Plain tab does not write the rhythm, so listen to the song or look for it written above the tab.
What do the letters and symbols in tab mean?
h is a hammer-on, p a pull-off, / and \ slides up and down, b a bend, r its release, ~ vibrato, x a muted string, P.M. palm muting, <12> a harmonic, t a tap, and a number in brackets a ghost note. The Tab symbols exercise shows and plays each one.
Is tab better than sheet music?
Tab is faster to start with and tells you exactly where to put a finger on your guitar. Sheet music tells you which note and how long, works on any instrument and in any tuning, and is what most teachers use. Learn both: Diesis has a reading track as well.
Why does a tab have 7 or 8 lines?
Because the guitar has seven or eight strings. Set your guitar in Diesis and the tab and the neck in the exercises show that many lines.
Where do I find tabs to read?
Any tab site, a book, or write your own in Diesis: the tab maker writes tab from a number pad or the neck and plays it back, so you hear what you wrote.
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More in Diesis
- LearnName the noteA position lights and plays. Say which note it is, against the clock if you dare.
- LearnFind the noteYou get a name. Tap every place it lives on the neck.
- PracticeThe neckAny scale on any root, across the whole fretboard. Here, A minor pentatonic.
- PracticeMetronome20 to 300 BPM, odd meters, tap tempo, and a Speed up mode that climbs to your target.
- PracticeBacking tracksJam over tracks in every style, with the key and the scale to play shown on each.
- PracticeFinger independenceFour pads, one per finger, and notes falling onto them on the click. Hit each one as it lands and see how close you were.
- SetupStrings and setupEvery string's tension for your tuning, a balanced set worked out for you, and the setup numbers for your guitar.
- SetupTunerTune through the microphone in your guitar's own tuning. It hears the string you play and shows which way to turn the peg.
- LearnReading musicName the note on the staff, find it on the neck, read a bar, then sight-read as the notes scroll.
- PracticeTab makerWrite your own tab from a number pad, the neck or the keyboard, and hear it played back.