INTRODUCTION:

First of all, we must forget everything we’ve ever thought about how complicated playing music is. I compare it to ‘math anxiety’. 

Many people fear music and think that it takes a genius to be a good musician. To be a master it might take a genius, but to play songs on the guitar, sound good and have a great time is only a lesson or two away!

I have been playing and teaching music professionally for many years and was a child piano prodigy myself.

NOW….. 

This is what blank Guitar Tab looks like. Right now all you see are the 6 lines (6 Strings) I know you’re thinking

“why is it upside down?” I have no idea. That’s how   Tablature was invented. Just imagine the bottom line as

being the top string that’s closest to you. With that out of the way we can work on our next keyword. “ Frets.” 

I am sure you have heard this term before ‘Guitar Frets.’ If not, they are the metal strips that go up and down

across the fingerboard of the guitar. They separate the notes (tones) on the guitar. When you place your finger

(form your left hand) in between two frets and hold down the string you are then prepared to strum or pick the

string with your right hand. Strings aren’t meant to only be played open. When you hold down a string at a

given ‘fret’ what you are actually doing is making the string shorter, thus making the pitch ‘Higher’ and changing

the note (or tone). 

There are usually about 20 something frets on a standard guitar. It doesn’t make a big difference if you have 20

, 22, or 24 frets on your guitar. This just means that you can play a couple notes higher on the guitar and those

notes are so high pitched they are pretty annoying to listen to anyway! You will stay in the lower range of the

guitar most of the time.

Now let’s get this ‘Higher’ and ‘Lower’ thing straight. In music, the musical notes (tones, pitches, whatever you

call them) are changed by pitch. We all know that pitch means the frequency of sound so something high 

pitched would be like an opera singing lady who breaks a wine glass with a super high note.

A Low pitch is similar to a Bass instrument or a man with a really deep voice. ‘Deep’ is the same as ‘Low’

when talking about pitch. On a slide whistle you blow into it and move the slide up and down to change the

pitch.

The closer you bring the slide to you the higher the pitch gets and vise versa.

On the guitar however it is not up and down. It is left to right. When you play a string open, that is the lowest

(deepest) sound you will hear produced from that string. As soon as you place your finger on the First ‘Fret’

and then strike the same string again the pitch will be slightly higher. The more you move to the right the higher the

pitch will get. (Because the string is getting shorter!). 

There are usually dots on the fingerboard of your guitar to act as a guide when moving around and holding

down different frets. Normally they are on the 3^rd , 5^th , 7^th , 9^th  and 12^th  frets.  

*TIP*:  

You don’t want to put your finger on the metal fret itself…but just slightly to the right of it produces the best

sound. 

Let’s Play Already!!! 

Ok, Ok. Now that we know what frets are. We know how to play a note (playing either an open string, or

pressing down a fret on that string and then strumming it) 

And we know what ‘Blank’ TAB music looks like. Let’s learn how to read TAB and how it will help you. 

The Lines represent the strings.  

The NUMBERS represent the Frets. 

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

_ 0 _ 3 _ 5 _ 0 _ 3 _ 6 _ 5 _____________________________________ 

Music (and TAB) is read from left to right like English.  

The ‘TAB’ above tells you to play on the Low string only (the thickest string) 

You know this because the numbers are only written on that string (the bottom line) 

The number ‘ 0 ’ means to play the string open. Then the number ‘ 3’ means place your index finger of your left          hand and hold down the 3^rd  fret on the low string (same string you played open). and then followed by the 5^th  fret

and so on. 

This is the main riff to the popular song ‘Smoke on the Water.’ If you are unfamiliar with this song you can see

it and view at on Youtube. Type in ‘Smoke on the Water.’ this way you will know what it sounds like before you

attempt to play it by reading it above. So if you play the string open (just strum the string without touching it with

your left hand) and then the 3^rd  fret and then the 5^th  and then open again, and then the 3^rd  fret 6^th  fret and 5^th

fret…you have you have just played smoke on the water! Try this next song…EVERYBODY Knows the tune

from ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ so you shouldn’t have any trouble with it. 

                      ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ 

____________________________________________________ high string  

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

_____________________________ 2 _ 2 ____________________ 

_ 4 _ 2 _ 0 _ 2 __ 4 _ 4 _ 4 __ 2 _ 2 _ 2 __ 4 __________________________ LOW String 

The first 4 notes (4,2,0,2) sound like “ma-ry had a”  

and then the three 4’s (444) sounds like “lit-tle lamb”  

and then again with three 2’s (222) is again “lit-tle lamb” 

and then the 4 on the low string and the two 2’s on the next string sound like 

the final “lit-tle lamb” 

Notice how the last two notes are on the next string. This would be the second string from the closest string to you. It

is also the second most thick string on the guitar. REMEMBER: With guitar TAB you must already be familiar

with the melody and rhythm of the song because even though the TAB shows you which notes to play to make

 the song, it does   not show you how ‘long’ to hold each note in order to make the song sound right. For

example, reading the above song ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ by just playing all the notes in a row without giving

the proper time for each note would not sound very much like that song at all! You know to put a pause in

between ‘little lamb’ and the next ‘little lamb’.

Also, you know that the last ‘lamb’ is held for a slightly longer amount of time than the rest. 

Here is a scale study for the guitar. This will sound like (Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do) It is know as the ‘Major

Scale’ and plays a HUGE part in music in general.  

It is also a great finger strengthening exercise for the guitar player. This requires you to play on three strings.

Frets # 3 and 5 on the LOW string. Followed by Frets # 2, 3 and 5 on the very next string. Lastly, frets # 2, 4, 5

on the 3^rd  string. Executed correctly it should sound like Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do. 

____________________________________________________ high string  

____________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________ 

_____________ 2 _ 4 _ 5 __________________________________ 

______ 2 _ 3 _ 5 _________________________________________ 

_ 3 _ 5 ________________________________________________ LOW String 

As stated in the beginning of this report, it is not intended for you to become a master overnight. But, with this

information and the fabulous world of the internet and countless resources available you can take this as far as

you want. Many famous musicians to this day do not know how to read music and 99% of them know TAB

and can learn a song or solo quickly by reading the TAB.  

There are SO many FREE websites that have the TAB to almost every song! 

Go to google and type in Guitar Tab for (song you want to learn) and it will surely pop right up. Remember that

the bottom line is the string closest to you… DON’T let that fool you. The TOP Line is the guitar string closest

to the floor.

We didn’t even play on that string this lesson.  

CONGRATULATIONS! 

You now know how to hold the guitar 

You now know how to play the very popular riff for ‘Smoke on the Water’ 

You know how to play a ‘major scale’ which is the foundation for modern music. 

You know how to play ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’  

You know how to read Guitar TAB!!!!!!!!! 

You can now go look up the TAB for any song you want to learn for FREE online! 

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY PLAYING!!!!