Guitar Tablature Lesson

Written by Edward Cupler

Guitar tablature provides an easy to understand way of knowing where to put your fingers on the fret board. Unlike musical notation tablature does not provide timing so you must already to know the song's timing to learn it properly.

In the example below the six horizontal lines represent the guitar strings. From bottom to top: low E, A, D, G, B, and high E. The red numbers represent which fret to use. A zero can be thought of as an O for open, or an un-fretted string.

Whole step bend

Whole step bend - note is struck at the fret displayed and bent a full step as shown.

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Half step bend

Half step bend - note is struck at the fret displayed and bent a half step as shown.

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Whole + half step bend

Whole + half step bend - note is struck at the fret displayed and bent three half step as shown.

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Whole step bend and release

Whole step bend and release - note is struck at the fret displayed and bent a full step as shown then released to its original pitch.

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Ghost bend

Ghost bend - note is bent at the fret displayed and then picked.

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Ghost bend and release

Ghost bend and release - note is bent at the fret displayed and then picked and released.

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Fret slide

Fret slide - note is struck at fret and slides up to the next note.

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Pull-off and Hammer-on

Pull-off and Hammer-on - both notes to be played are fretted then the string is picked once then the higher not is released sounding the lower note then the higher note is sounded again by replacing the removed finger.

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Fretboard tapping

Fretboard tapping - the highest note is played by tapping the fretboard with the right hand and then releasing to the lower notes and pulling off.

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String vibrato

String vibrato - guitar string is bent and released quickly causing the pitch to vary rapidly.

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Guitar Tuner

Guitar Tuner

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