what is a guitar tab? and how do i play it? how does it differ from a chord?

Question

im just starting to learn how 2 play the guitar, and stuf, and chords are hard for me

Answer 1

Tablature is a graphic representation of the strings of your guitar. It is older than notation and notation was born out of it. If you lay your guitar down in front of you, the strings will be laid out just like they are in tablature. The fat string (Low E) is the bottom line, and the skinniest one one the other side (High E E) is the top line. The numbers that you see on each line, are the fret numbers where you should put your fingers, reading from left to right.

If you see numbers piled on top of each other, you play all of those strings at once. If they are connected by a squiggly line (different with different forms of tablature) you strum them like a chord. It is actually easier for some people to read, maybe because some people are more visual learners, but eventually notation replaced tablature because it was a more efficient means to communicate length, duration, and intensity of pitch. All tablature really tells you is where to put your finger on the string. Notation is also standardized between instruments. In notation, Piano, Guitar, Flute, and Voice all read the same notes. (Trumpet and clarinet read the same notes but they transpose them. Ask about that another time) A Piano player or singer would have a difficult time reading guitar tablature however, so everyone would have to read everyone else's specific style of tab! Not very efficient.

Chords are another type of graphic representation, although they are viewed as if you are looking directly at the neck. The little dots tell you where to put our fingers, and if there are little numbers beside them, they tell you which fingers to use. Remember that your thumb does not count as a finger. I'm not being patronizing here, I have actually had to explain this to students. If there is an "0" just above the string, you play the string open, and if there is an "X" above the string, you avoid it completely is possible, or mute the string. (deaden it)

I put a few links below to help you out a little more. If you need anything else, give me a shout.

Answer 2

Tabs, or correctly known as tablature, is a method of playing guitar notes by pressing the string in the numbered fret on the appropriate horizontal line. Each horizontal line represents one of the six strings of the guitar; the bottom, the low E, the top line, or sixth line, the high E or first string.

If you see the Arabic number 3 on the fourth line that tells you to press down the third string in the third fret--the Bb note. Likewise, a number 5 on the bottom E line tells you to press down the low E string in the fifth fret--an A note.

Learning to play tablature helps the guitarist in discovering the note placement on the fretboard, but it is no substitute for learning music notation theory.

As for chords, you must persevere, be patient with yourself, and concentrate on correct placement of your fingers near the fret bar. Playing guitar is not done overnight or in a month--it takes time and practice.

Remember the Mother chord of F major. It looks like this on the guitar: XX3211. Once you learn and master this formation, the entire fretboard is at your mercy.

I'm not sure what other 'stuf' you're referring to.

Answer 3

It would take to long to explain this to you here, so do this, I checked it out and it's great, go to google and type "learning guitar tabs," go to the second site and see what you think. There are quite a few more on there so check them out. Guitar tabs are not like reading music, the tabs represent the strings of the guitar, there are six, you'll see numbers and zeros, and this site will explain what it all means, OK, I hope this helps. Good luck, it's not hard once you get the hang of it !!
I just found a few more, try these,
http://www.guitartabs.com
http://www.ultimate-guitartabs.com/
http://www.chordie.com/
Added about five hours later !

Answer 4

basically a tab is written out how to play with numbers, instead of a chord is just written out with letters.

Numbers indicate the fret in which the string is played. If the tab has the first string with a 1, the first string would be held down on the first fret.

Answer 5

It's a diagram, like a chord diagram, but it shows the location of the notes of the song - not just the chords. You still have to learn chords - practice, practice, practice.

Answer 6

not a whole lot. A uke is like the top four strings on a guitar IIRC.