Home › Forums › Active Melody Guitar Lessons › Reading Tab
- This topic has 9 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 2 months ago by Jean-Michel G.
-
CreatorTopic
-
January 21, 2022 at 11:52 am #293046
I am looking for a course to learn how to read the guitar tab. I think I’m going to need that. Where might I find it? Thank you.
-
CreatorTopic
-
AuthorReplies
-
-
January 21, 2022 at 2:17 pm #293055
This is probably your best bet David. Since it’s fairly straight forward there may not be any “courses” on it, but certainly some videos:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=guitar+tabs+tutorial
-
January 21, 2022 at 2:28 pm #293056
Hey David, maybe you don’t need to actually take a course in it. Some people have learned it just by using the SoundSlice feature on Brian’s lesson pages. You do indeed need to learn it, but it’s not that hard. If I were you, I would just Google “how to read guitar tabs” and I’m pretty sure you will find some simple explanations. Then move on to SoundSlice and you should get it pretty quickly.
Note that there are two kinds of guitar tabs: (1) This kind, like you see on the Ultimate Guitar web site:
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the-allman-brothers-band/blue-sky-tabs-59576
It shows you where to put your fingers on the fretboard, but gives you no clue as to the timing. You just have listen to the original song to figure it out. If you didn’t know the song already, you couldn’t play it.
The more advanced kind, as used by Brian, gives information about the tempo, and tells you how long to hold each note. You can play any song, even if you’ve never heard it before.
Sunjamr Steve
-
January 22, 2022 at 1:37 am #293092
Reading tab definitely improves with practice. Keep plugging away at it and you get better.
I used to be a ‘learn everything by ear’ guy. These days I’m a ‘learn everything any way you can’ guy.
-
January 22, 2022 at 11:32 am #293111
Hi ya David,
Brian has a unit on how to read tab that may be worth checking out as a start
Steve
-Steve
-
January 22, 2022 at 4:03 pm #293118
Thank you all. I’m going to start digging into these. I’m a little visually compromised (mono vision) and on up into age so I require some big letters and cast videos onto large screen. Thanks again.
-
January 26, 2022 at 12:20 pm #293445
I have noticed that the Tablature for Brian’s lessons do not show those chords where he is barring some of the notes. For example for Lesson 356 on CAGED Shape Triads the TABS clearly show the Triad shapes but when he plays them in his video it looks like he bars some of them. I know in the big scheme it may not matter but how do you tell when it is necessary to bar. I don’t think he makes it very clear on why he does this and when it may or may not be needed. Maybe I should know this but obviously I don’t as I have had a problem with this for a long time through many lessons and seem to have missed any explanation about it. If it’s a matter of personal choice it would be helpful to know that. Sorry if this seems to be self evident and I am just missing it but had to ask.
-
January 27, 2022 at 5:53 am #293507
Hi,
“To barre or not to barre, that’s the question…”
Some chord grips can only be done with a barre; for example, when you want to play a full G chord in E shape over all six strings. You only have 5 fingers so in the best possible case you’d be missing a string. Therefore you have to barre.
Other times the barre is a matter of personal choice. For example, many people will play a C barre chord in A shape at the 3rd fret by barring the 3rd fret with the index and then barring strings 2, 3 and 4 with one of the three remaining fingers. I personally never do this simply because I am physically unable to do it.
The decision to barre or not also depends on what you will be playing next. Often the barre will make things easier.
It is possible to indicate a barre chord in the tablature, but Brian rarely does this. So it’s up to you to analyze the situation and decide what you prefer.
-
January 28, 2022 at 11:04 pm #294161
Thank you. I can and do barre or not for most chords. My main question pertains to why Brian will show it unbarred but play it barred in almost all cases. I find it confusing as a beginner trying to learn what and why of soloing. As you said sometimes it’s required but other times it’s not. My problem is it hard to tell the difference when your unsure at first. Eventually it can be worked out but it seems to me to be an unecessary stumbling block. Appreciate you taking the time to write.
-
January 29, 2022 at 12:46 am #294178
Hi again!
I understand. Brian uses GuitarPro to write down his tabs (I think), and as I said, it is perfectly possible to notate passages to be played with a barre chord. But for some reason he doesn’t do it. I suppose he doesn’t deem this necessary since there is a video of him playing anyway.I agree with you that it helps when you see this indication in a score or a tab.
If you are unsure, don’t hesitate to ask in the forum whether this specific measure in that particular lesson needs to be barred or not.
-
-
-
-
AuthorReplies
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.