Who needs all the above (see EVERYTHING YOU'VE ALWAYS AVOIDED ABOUT READING MUSIC)?

Why program in machine language when you can use WordPerfect (or hire a word processor)?

Well, what if I now offered you an easier, more direct route to reading notes just for guitar? It's called Guitar Tablature.

Who knows? Maybe it'll save you megabucks you might otherwise spend screaming on your shrink's couch,
trying to read the guitar music to, say, Come Back Baby.

TABLATURE trades in some of music's more precise musical annotations for more direct readability (unlike this sentence).

Tablature adds a sixth line to the five of the music staff. Now we have:

• ONE LINE FOR EACH STRING
• A NUMBER on a line is the FRET your left hand plays
• The NUMBER, in fact, IS the note.

IF THERE'S NO STEM TO INDICATE DURATION, IT'S A QUARTER NOTE

The LOWEST line on the tablature grid is the "FAT" 6th guitar string.

The line right above it is the 5th string (the "A" bass string), and so on up to the top line of the tablature grid.
This "top" line equals the guitar's skinny "E" string

So:

top string-------------------------------(Skinny, or 1st String)
-----------------------------------------(Next, or 2nd String)
-----------------------------------------(3rd String)
-----------------------------------------(4th String--Bass)
-----------------------------------------(5th String--Bass)
bottom string----------------------------(6th, or FATTEST String)

So how do you play the notes? (i.e., numbers):

• If NOTHING's on a line, don't play that string.
• If a ZERO's on a line, play it OPEN (Zero fret).

Now let's look at two chords expressed in tablature: a D chord and a G chord:

          (D)                      (G)
-----------2------------------------3------------------------
-----------3------------------------0------------------------
-----------2------------------------0------------------------
-----------0------------------------0------------------------
------------------------------------2------------------------
------------------------------------3------------------------

REMEMBER: the LINE = STRING, and the NUMBER = FRET

As you learn other versions of these chords, I'll indicate them with unique names, such as "new" or "weird."

See the Appendix Normal Chords to review the standard Folky chords.

You won't always be using the basic chords...it's helpful to know that the "odd new chord" you're playing
is replacing a basic chord.

How to indicate what fingers to use? This way:

• I = Left Index
• M = Left Middle
• R = Left Ring
• P = Left Pinky

I use CAPITAL letters for the left hand (and, rarely, lower-case letters for the right hand). For example, using a C chord:

     (C)

------0--------------------   this says:"use the Left
------1-----I--------------   Ring for the bass on the
---------------------------   fifth string, and the Left
---------------------------   Index on the second string
------3-----R-------------    first fret"
---------------------------

1. Your Right Thumb has first crack at the "Bass" notes (the ones on the three thick, metal-wrapped strings. They're called the 4th, 5th and 6th strings)
2. The THIRD string is played with the RIGHT INDEX
3. The FIRST string--mister "teeny weeny"--should be played with either the RIGHT MIDDLE or RIGHT RING

Read the pieces from left to right, just like text.

In Chapter 4, I'll use the tablature to start you on fingerpicking patterns.

As you move on to harder pieces in the book, you'll be glad tablature is so well-suited for the guitar.

This chapter © 2014 by Andrew D. Polon. All rights reserved.