How to Read Guitar Tablature (TAB)

Guitar tablature — usually shortened to “tab” or “TAB” — is the most widely shared notation for guitar on the internet. Tablature tells you exactly where to put your fingers: which string to play, which fret to press, and in what order. It does not require reading standard music notation, which is why it became the default format for sharing riffs, licks, solos, and chord shapes across forums, tab sites, and video lessons. If you want to learn a song on guitar, the first result you find will almost always be a tab.

Tab uses six horizontal lines — one for each string on a standard guitar in tuning E-A-D-G-B-E. The top line is the highest-pitch string (the high E) and the bottom line is the lowest-pitch string (the low E). This is the opposite of how a piano roll looks, and it is the first thing that confuses beginners. The mnemonic is simple: tab is drawn as if you are looking down at the fretboard with the guitar lying flat in your lap, the low E closest to your chest (bottom of the page) and the high E furthest from you (top of the page).

Numbers on a line tell you which fret to press on that string. A 0 means play the open string; a 3 means press the 3rd fret. Reading order is left to right, and that left-to-right axis represents the passage of time — notes on the left are played before notes on the right. When two or more numbers are stacked vertically in the same column, they are played simultaneously as a chord. A dash (-) on a line means that string is not played at that moment.

Tab's biggest limitation is rhythm. By default, plain ASCII tab does not show how long each note lasts — there are no note stems, beams, or rests like in standard notation. You have to already know what the song sounds like, or pair the tab with rhythm notation, an audio recording, or a chord chart. Some modern tab formats (such as Guitar Pro files and sites that render tab alongside a standard-notation stave) solve this, but the plain text tabs you find in forums do not. This is why tablature and standard notation are companions, not competitors.

Beyond fret numbers, tab uses a set of single-letter symbols to describe articulations — the physical techniques that shape a note. The most common are h for hammer-on, p for pull-off, / for slide up, \ for slide down, b for string bend, r for release (return a bent string to pitch), x for a muted or dead note, ~ for vibrato, t for a right-hand tap on the fretboard (the two-handed tapping lesson teaches the technique behind this symbol), and PM for palm mute. These symbols are near-universal across English-language tabs; learning them once lets you read any tab you find online.

Tab, chord diagrams, and standard notation each have a job they do best. Tab is unbeatable for sharing exact finger positions and string-specific riffs — slides, bends, and solos that would be awkward to notate any other way. Chord diagrams are the fastest way to communicate a chord shape for strumming. Standard notation carries rhythm, key, and expression details that tab omits, and it is portable across instruments. Most working guitarists read all three: tab for learning riffs, diagrams for learning chords, and standard notation for communicating with non-guitarists. This lesson is the third leg of the notation-reading trio on this site — pair it with the Reading Chord Diagrams and Reading Chord Symbols lessons for full coverage.