If you do not know how to read musical notation, but lets say you want to learn how to jam the new Fall Out Boys song on your guitar. You will first need to learn how to read guitar tablature. Don’t worry though, because learning guitar tabs is very simple once you know all the basics.
Guitar Tab Basics
A standard tablature staff would look something like this:
e————————————————-
B————————————————-
G————————————————-
D————————————————-
A————————————————-
E————————————————-
When you look at this, you have to visualize that each line and letter represent each string on a guitar. Starting from the bottom to the top they are:
E – the 6th string (thickest)
A – the 5th string
D – the 4th string
G – the 3rd string
B – the 2nd string
e – the 1st string (thinnest)
Now you will see that there are numbers written into the the staff. Each number represents what fret you push down and on what string. In the following tab example , each number is lined up on the A string (5th string) one after another which tells you that they should be played one after another. The 0 means that you pluck the A string open (without pushing on the string),1 – go to the 1st fret pluck, 2 – go to the 2nd fret, 3 – go to the 3rd fret.
E————————————————-
B————————————————-
G————————————————-
D————————————————-
A————————————————-
E—-0–1–2–3———————————–
Chords are represented with numbers written on top of each other.
Here is what a C Major chord would look like:
E————————————————
B—-1——————————————-
G————————————————
D—-2——————————————-
A—-3——————————————-
E—-0——————————————-
You will notice that the 1st string (e) , and the 3rd string (G) have no numbers, this means that you do not strum those strings. They are in a basically just muted and not played.
The largest disadvantage to tablature is the the fact that you are not able to accurately define how long each not should be held for. The best way to figure this out is by listening to the actual song that you are trying to play. This is really the best way to use tabs.
Find the tab to the song you want to learn
Play that song on a radio, or your computer, or whatever means you have
Break the song into sections, starting with whatever is simplest for you
Slowly start to place each section together
Although tablature does not give you the exact timing, they do give you some thought by spacing the numbers out. An example would look like this:
E————————3————————-
B————————–3———————–
G————————————————–
D————–0———————0————-
A————2————————–2———-
E—-3————————————-3——-
You will also come across symbols that are use to represent certain actions.
h – hammer on —-2h3—-
p – pull off —-3p2—-
b – bend string up —-5b7—-
r – release bend —-5b7r5—-
/ – slide up —-5/7—-
– slide down —-75—-
v – vibrato (sometimes written as ~) —-3v—- or —-3~—-
x – muted, struck string —-000–xxx–000—
pm – palm mute

2006-14

Flamenco Guitar: Learn To Play Malaguena With Guitar Tab

Flamenco guitar is an art that it is hard to master. But is it possible to play a flamenco guitar melody that is simple to learn for a beginner. Come and see!

Flamenco is a song, music and dance style which has its roots in Moorish and Jewish musical traditions.

Flamenco culture has become one of the icons of Spanish music and even Spanish culture in general.

The flamenco guitar comes from the lute and is made of Spanish cypress and spruce and is smaller than a classical guitar with a sharper sound.

Malaguena is a flamenco style with its roots in the local fandango of Malaga.

You will not need to read sheet music to play this flamenco guitar piece. We will instead use guitar tablature. You will only use four strings on the guitar.

The string with the highest pitch is called the first string or E-string. Look at the following guitar tab with four strings indicated:

1. ————————-
2. ———0———–0—
3. —–1———–1——-
4. -2———–2———–

This is a tablature staff and the number 2 on the fourth string indicate that you play the fourth string while pressing down the second fret.

The next note is played on the first fret on the third string. The zero indicate that you play the note without pressing down any fret.

Play the melody with your thumb and with your first finger resting on the first string for later use.

Here is the next guitar tablature part:

1. ————————-
2. —–1—0—————
3. -2———–2—0——-
4. ———————3—

After the last note on the third fret on the fourth string you just start over again with the first guitar tab staff.

Now it is time to introduce your first finger on your right hand into the melody. After every note you play with your thumb you just have to pluck the first string with your first finger. In guitar tab it looks like this:

1. —–0——-0——
2. —————–0–
3. ———1———-
4. -2——————

And so on for the rest of the melody!

I hope you will find this very simplified flamenco guitar tab melody enjoyable. I guess many people will recognize the melody when they hear you play it.

Flamenco guitar playing is of course an art that is hard to master but this small flamenco piece doesn’t sound so terrible. Does it!