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Lesson 3 of 11 · 10 min · Reading guitar

How to read chord diagrams and guitar tabs

Two small pictures carry almost all guitar music on the web: the chord diagram, which shows where to put your fingers for a chord, and the tablature, which shows which fret to play on which string, note after note. Learn to read both, then play a melody from a tab.

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Reading a chord diagram

A chord diagram, or chord box, is a picture of the first frets of the neck, standing up, as if the guitar hung on a wall in front of you. The six vertical lines are the strings: the low E on the left, the high E on the right. The horizontal lines are the frets, and the thick line at the top is the nut.

C chord: E string not played, A string fret 3, D string fret 2, G string open, B string fret 1, E string open321CEGCEC
F chord: E string fret 1, A string fret 3, D string fret 3, G string fret 2, B string fret 1, E string fret 1134211FCFACFF
D chord: E string not played, A string not played, D string open, G string fret 2, B string fret 3, E string fret 2132DADF♯D
Three chord diagrams. Dots are fingers, with their number; a circle above a string means play it open, a cross means do not play it; the bar across F is a barre.
  • A dot is a finger, pressed just behind the fret below it. The number in it says which finger: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little finger. The thumb is not numbered.
  • A circle above a string: play the string open. A cross: do not play it, or mute it.
  • A bar across several strings is a barre: one finger, usually the index, lies flat across them all.
  • A number such as 5fr beside the top fret means the diagram starts at the 5th fret, not at the nut.

Read the C chord this way: cross on the low E, so skip it; ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, G open, index on the 1st fret of the B string, high E open. Every chord on the guitar chord chart uses these diagrams, with the notes of each string written underneath.

Reading tablature

Tablature, or tab, writes music for the guitar as numbers on six lines. Each line is a string, and the top line is the high E, the thinnest string, so the low E is at the bottom. Each number is a fret to play on that line's string: 3 on the B line means the 3rd fret of the B string, and 0 means the string open. You read from left to right, one column at a time.

Tablature of the first line of Ode to Joy on the B and high E strings: 0 0 1 3 on the high E, 3 1 0 on the high E, then 3 on the B, 1 1 3 on the B, 0 0 on the high E and 3 3 on the B. The note names are written under each number.EADGBe0E0E1F3G3G1F0E3D1C1C3D0E0E3D3D
The first line of Ode to Joy in tab: the numbers are frets, the letters underneath the notes they make. This is the exercise of this lesson.

Numbers written one above the other are played together, as a chord. Numbers one after the other are played one after the other. Vertical lines are bar lines that divide the music into measures, as on a staff.

What tabs do not tell you

Most tabs give the notes but not the rhythm: the spacing between numbers is only a rough guide. You need to know the song, listen to it, or read a tab that has the standard notation above it. Tabs do not say which finger to use either; as a rule, on the first frets, the finger number matches the fret number, index on fret 1, middle on fret 2, ring on fret 3.

Chord sheets: chords above the lyrics

Many songs online are not written as tabs at all but as chord sheets: the lyrics, with chord names printed just above the syllable where the chord changes. You play the chord diagram for each name and strum until the next one. Lesson 8 uses a chart of this kind for a whole song.

Symbols you will meet in tabs

  • h hammer-on: 5h7, pluck fret 5, then press fret 7 hard enough to sound it without plucking again.
  • p pull-off: 7p5, the reverse, pull the finger off the string so the lower note sounds.
  • / and \ slide up or down from one fret to the other.
  • b bend: 7b9, push the string sideways until fret 7 sounds like fret 9.
  • x a muted, percussive note; ~ vibrato.

Practise: play from the tab

The exercise is the tab above, note by note. The page writes the string and the fret on each step; on the neck, the B string is second from the top and fret numbers are written underneath. On your own guitar, use the index for fret 1 and the ring finger for fret 3, press just behind the fret, and pluck only the string you need. When you can play the line without stopping, sing or hum the melody along: tab plus a tune you know is the fastest way to learn to read.

Exercise

Play Ode to Joy from the tab

The first line of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, from the tab in this lesson: fifteen notes on the two thinnest strings, B and high E. Play each step in order: the string and fret are written on it.

Practise it: Guitar chord chart →

Questions

Frequently asked

How do you read guitar tabs for beginners?

Each of the six lines is a string, with the thinnest string, high E, on top. Each number is the fret to press on that string, and 0 is the open string. Read from left to right; numbers stacked on top of each other are played together.

What do the numbers mean on a guitar chord diagram?

They are fingers: 1 is the index, 2 the middle finger, 3 the ring finger and 4 the little finger. The dot shows where the finger goes, just behind the fret below it.

What does X mean on a guitar chord?

Do not play that string, or mute it by touching it lightly. On C, for example, the low E string is marked X: strum from the A string down.

Is the low E string at the top or the bottom of a tab?

At the bottom. Tablature puts the high E, the thinnest string, on the top line and the low E on the bottom line, so the lowest note is drawn lowest.

Do guitar tabs show rhythm?

Usually not, or only roughly. Many tabs give the notes only, so you need to know how the song goes. Some tabs add standard notation or rhythm marks above the numbers to show the timing.

Learn guitar course

All the lessons

  1. A risograph poster of a whole acoustic guitar with its six strings in six colors, map pins pointing at the headstock, neck, sound hole and bridge Guitar parts and string names Headstock, neck, frets and body, the six strings E A D G B E, and how to sit with the guitar. 8 min
  2. A risograph poster of a yellow guitar tuning peg turning on its gear, its string sending out pink sound waves, beside a clip-on tuner with the needle in the center How to tune a guitar Standard tuning, a tuner in the browser, the fifth-fret method by ear, and why strings drift. 9 min
  3. A risograph poster of a guitar chord diagram with six strings, finger dots and open-string circles, beside a six-line tab with yellow dots Reading chord diagrams and tabs Chord boxes and tablature, the two pictures every guitar book uses, and your first melody in tab. 10 min
  4. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard near the nut where pink, cyan and yellow fingertip dots press three strings for an open chord Your first guitar chords Em, Am, C, G, D and E: the six open chords behind thousands of songs, and how to make them ring. 10 min
  5. A risograph poster of a pink pick sweeping across the strings over a guitar sound hole under a row of down and up strumming arrows Strumming patterns Down on the beat, up on the "and": four strumming patterns from the simplest to the classic. 10 min
  6. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard where curved yellow arrows carry a pink chord shape over to a cyan one Changing chords smoothly Anchor fingers, moving all fingers together and the one-minute change drill. 10 min
  7. A risograph poster of a bar of yellow light pressed across all six strings of a guitar fretboard, pink and cyan finger dots beyond it Barre chords One finger across all six strings: F, Bm and the two shapes that give you every chord. 12 min
  8. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar resting against a log by a campfire, an open songbook at its feet and notes rising with the sparks Your first song on guitar Amazing Grace in G: four chords, a waltz strum and the whole song from start to finish. 12 min
  9. A risograph poster of a pink electric guitar plugged into an amplifier that blasts yellow lightning bolts and rings of sound Power chords Two fingers, one movable shape: the rock chord on the low E and A strings, and a first riff. 10 min
  10. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar with six colored strings, four glowing fingertips plucking them over the sound hole and ripples of notes Fingerpicking for beginners Thumb on the bass, fingers on G, B and E: three patterns from an arpeggio to Travis picking. 12 min
  11. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard under a stage spotlight, a box of pink and cyan scale dots and notes streaming out of it Your first guitar solo The minor pentatonic at fret 5, bends and slurs, a first lick and how to improvise over a chord. 12 min
Ready when you are

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