Guitar Tab Books

By Guest Blogger Olly Fallon

One of the great things about learning the guitar is how easy it can be to start learning songs from a book.

With most instruments you need to learn how to read music. Those dots and lines can really put people off – in fact, it is like learning a new language and takes a huge amount of time to master. This is not to say that learning standard musical notation is not a good thing for any musician but you will not see results overnight.

So what makes the guitar different from any other instrument? Why is it easier to read music from a book with the guitar?

Thanks to the guitars simple layout there have been a couple of simple methods produced for writing out guitar music so that anyone can understand what to do. Guitar tablature (often referred to as guitar tab) does look, to the untrained eye, to be very similar to standard musical notation though where dots and lines would normally be there are numbers. At first glance this can put people off though looking a little closer, understanding how to read this is really simple.

Guitar tab is made up of 6 lines. Each line represents one string of the guitar. The lowest line represents the thickest string on the guitar and the top line the thinnest string. Each time you see a number on that line it means you count up the frets and hold you finger on that note. Take the lowest line as an example. If you saw a number 2 on the bottom line you would put you finger on the 2nd fret on the thickest string of your guitar, the E string. If you saw a 10 on the 3rd line up from the bottom you would put your finger on the 10th fret of the 3rd thickest string – the D string.

As you can see from above this is a really simple way of being able to transpose music that is written down on paper to the guitar. You have to figure out for yourself which fingers to use, and, whilst simple to find the notes, being able to quickly know where you are going is still something that demands a lot of time, effort and dedication.

There are literally hundreds of guitar tab books to choose from including books by pretty much every band you have ever heard of and even tuition books to help you master the guitar!

Choose from a huge range of guitar tab books and cheap electric guitars.