My tablature system explained

it seems everyone has their own system for writing and using tablature. the system i tend to use is full of variables, and i will try to explain a few of my stranger topics here.

my basic tabbing preference is an ASCII-style grid, seen below. for first time tabbers, you'll notice each line is assigned to one string - and it's upside down from the way your guitar is laid out. i don't know whose idea this was, but you'll get used to it. the numbers on each line denote what fret to play on what string at any particular time, and time runs left to right, just like in regular written notation. notes that fall on top of each other are played at the same time. in other words, the following example first shows a bunch of single notes, and then a chord...

  vii                   i

     2 4    2 4  1 3 4

     d u  d u d  u d u   d

E|-----------------------0--|

B|-----------------------1--|

G|-----------------------0--|

D|---------------7-9-10--2--|

A|--------7-8-10---------3--|

E|---8-10----------------3--|

       

i have included some other things to more accurately represent some things. i call these 'lines' and they can be added anywhere above or below the tab line, depending on what i think is easiest to read based on what we're playing...

    vii                 i    <-----position line

       2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4      <-----fingering line

       d u d u d u d u  d   <-----picking line

Position Line: how i mark the position of a fretting hand. if you don't already know, 'position' playing involves two simple rules. the first rule states that your first fretting finger will denote what position you are playing in. the second rule states that once in position, each of your four fretting fingers will be assigned one fret. the above example has us playing in 7th position, meaning our first finger will handle all the 7th fret notes, second finger will get 8th fret notes, 3rd/9th, and 4th/10th. pretty simple. i have gotten used to using roman numerals in lowercase form to show positions, since it eliminates some numbers from the view (and we've already got tons of those), and we'll be using capital roman numerals for harmonic analysis from time to time.

Fingering Line: this line shows you which fretting finger to use. your fingers are numbered sequentially from 1-4, with your thumb being omitted for obvious reasons. sometimes it is necessary to play out of position momentarily, like in this example...

   vi

   -1 2 4 -1 2 4 1 2 4 2 1 4 2 -1 4 2 -1

|----------------------------------------|

|----------------------------------------|

|----------------------------------------|

|----------------4-5-7-5-4---------------|

|----------5-7-9-----------9-7-5---------|

|---5-7-9-------------------------9-7-5--|

most of the fingerings in this example coincide with position VI, with our first finger occasionally stretching out and dropping back one fret. this is denoted as -1. if, on the other hand, our pinky was stretching out and moving up a fret, it would be written as +4. get it? good.

Picking Line:  in most cases, this will have only two symbols in this line - d (downstroke) and u (upstroke). i might throw some h's and p's (hammer ons and pulloffs) in there to remind you from time to time, but for the most part this is a simple system. tapping (T or +) will also happen here.

Extra Lines: i will invent more lines as we go. you might see things like...

PM----------------| (palm muting)

let ring -----------| (let notes ring out - obvious?)

...and any other sort of playing tips that i will deem helpful for the time being.

keep in mind you won't see all of this extra information in all the tab i do - just where i feel it's necessary. after all, tablature was invented as a way to simplify notation for guitar, not become an alternative to it!