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When you play acoustic guitar, you have the advantage of a totally different, and much easier, kind of music notation. No more notes and staffs and time signatures. This is simpler and more intuitive. Its acoustic guitar tabs, which are notations based on the positions of the instruments strings. The greatest advantage is not having to learn to read music the traditional way. A number of string instruments utilize tabs.

“Tabs” is short for tablature. Acoustic guitar tabs arelike a little picture of your guitar strings. The first row is the top string and the sixth row is the bottom one. On each of the rows, or lines, the numbers indicate the fret youre supposed to be playing. A 0 (zero) is used to indicate an open string, while an X indicates a muffled string.

If you’re not sure what a fret is, it’s the area between the metal bars on the neck, or the fingerboard of your guitar. Usually there will be somewhere between 21 to 24 frets on the acoustic guitar. The dots you see on the frets are simply a visual guide to let you see where you are.

While looking at acoustic guitar tabs, first you should note if the numbers are listed one after another on each of the lines. If they are arranged in this manner, the numbers are indicating to you which fret to use on that string, and you pluck that one string alone. On the other hand, if you notice that the numbers are stacked one on top of the other (in a vertical manner) on the individual line, the acoustic guitar tab is instructing you to play these notes simultaneously, strumming all six strings at the same time.

When reading acoustic guitar tabs, you may come across things like, hammer-on, pull-offs, bends and slides. A hammer-on may be represented by something such as “7h9,” with the “h” being the notation for the hammer-on. A pull-off would be noted in the same way, with a “p” instead of an “h.” A bend is noted by a simple “b” and a slide would be represented by a “/.”

When you’re able to read acoustic guitar tabs, look for simple guitar tabs online. Find a melody that you recognize, and experiment with it. Though it might take a while for you to feel fully comfortable reading and playing acoustic guitar tabs, you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment when everything falls into place.

It is best that you hear the song you are trying to learn as it makes the learning easier. While you can remember how a song goes, listening to it while you practice can help you with the rhythm and detail. It can be tremendously fun to learn how to play a guitar when you utilize acoustic guitar tabs. Before you realize it, you have many songs in your repertoire that you can play at parties to impress friends, or for your sole pleasure.

Last 5 posts by Shane Fenham

• How to buy a cheap acoustic guitar - August 3rd, 2008
• Playing guitar without errors or backache - July 7th, 2008
• Webkins Sectret Codes - July 1st, 2008
• Top 5 beginner acoustic guitar tips - July 1st, 2008
• Acoustic guitar chords: easy step by step lesson - June 30th, 2008

Tags: Music