Learning how to read guitar tabs for the first time can be a little confusing, but with a little knowledge on the subject you can become an expert at reading guitar tabs in no time

Sample Tab:

Tabs Read from left to right. Each Horizontal Line represents a string on your guitar. The E on the top represents the High E string, and the E on the Bottom represents your low E string. Each Number represents which fret you should finger. An "X" represents plucking a muted string.

For This first measure you would start by plucking your D string with the 7th Fret fingered. Then you would release the 7th fret and then fingure the 5th fret on the G string, and so on and so forth.

As you can see in our first measure here we have two notes in the same column, when this happens you have to pluck both strings at the same time. This can be done by fingure picking the two strings individually or using a strum with the strings inbetween muted.

A zero in the tabulature indicates plucking an open string with no finguring needed.

 

 

Slide:

A slide is indicated by a forward or backward slash in the guitar tabulature. In this case a forward slash indicates that after we pluck an open A string we apply pressure to the A string and slide our fingure all the way up to the 8th fret.

Similarily a backslash we represent a slide down the neck of the guitar instead of up it.

 

 

 

Hammer-On:

A hammer-on is indicated by an "h" in the guitar tabulature. A hammer-on is somewhat self explanatory. You use your finger like a hammer to finger the fret. In doing so you fingure the fret hard enough to create a sound without plucking the string.

 

 

 

Bend:

A bend is indicated by a "b" in the guitar tabulature. A bend is performed by fingering a note, plucking it, and then using the finger you are using to finger the note to bend the string the whole while retaining pressure on the string. This results in raising the pitch of the note in a unique way.In this case you pluck the 7th fret of the G string and then bend it to the point in which it sounds as if you had just plucked it while fingering the 9th fret.