How To Read Guitar Music

Reading guitar music is different than music written for piano or other instruments. Guitar music is often written in a type of shorthand called chord boxes or tab. This article will get you started and sums up the basics, but if you want to learn to read guitar music with ease and play the guitar well, more than an article is necesary; I recommend a great online guitar program that you should check out - Jamorama. 

Let's get you started with these basic steps to reading guitar music!

1. Identify the basic tabs written on the music. Tabs look similar to standard sheet music in that there is a staff of lines and spaces. The difference with guitar music is that the six lines of the tab represent the six strings of the guitar.
2. Look for the fret number. On the tab in the middle of the lines, there should be numbers. These numbers indicate the fret where that string should be played. For example, a number 6 written on the second line from the top indicates that the second string should be played on the sixth fret. Please note, there should be a number on each line but if there is a zero this indicates that the open string should be played. Playing an open string means you do not hold any string down for that chord.
3. Practice placing fingers on the correct fret locations. It takes some practice learning to read tabs quickly and find correct finger placement at the same time. Practice with just the finger placement when you are learning a new piece of music instead of also trying to make a sound at the same time.
4. Once you know the finger positions, listen to the song being played by someone else. If possible get a CD or MP3 of the original artist. One of the difficulties of using guitar tabs is that the tabs do not indicate rhythm or notes. This means that there is no way to tell how fast to play the notes. By listening to the music at this point you can get the rhythm.
5. Practice playing along with the song being played. Part of learning this music will be memorization. Once you read the tabs to indicate the finger locations on the frets along with listening to capture the rhythm, you need to practice until you can combine the two.
6. Finally, start practicing playing the song by strumming the strings. Until this point you haven’t been combining all the steps to play the song in depth. Combine reading the tabs with finger placement on the frets and strumming along to the rhythm of the song.

Learning to play guitar is easier once you know how to read the shorthand of guitar tabs. Practice and over time you will be able to learn new songs with only a few hours of practice. Just remember to have fun when you practice and you will love reading guitar music.