Reading Techniques in Guitar Tab

Once you can read the basic rhythm and notes to be played in guitar tab, you also need to become familiar with reading how techniques are actually written in guitar tab. One of the main benefits of guitar tab is that it clearly lists the specific guitar technique quite clearly, unlike standard notation which uses symbols based on musical concepts. Since the notation below will be in combined notation, you can clearly see the standard notation looking quite similar for multiple instances. While not as useful for knowing which technique to use, combined notation is still quite helpful because it removes the rhythm notation from the guitar tab, which makes it look less cluttered. In addition, it is basically the industry standard for most companies that commercially print guitar music, so it is good to get used to seeing it.

Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs
Hammer-ons and pull-offs use the exact same symbol, since they are basically the same technique. Since there is no situation where you could confuse which of these techniques to use, it is fairly simple to know which one to use. Rarely, you may see a hammer-on symbol onto the first note of the sequence, which means the guitarist is literally hammering-on to the quiet string. This is pretty rare outside a few guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, but that is what it means if you ever run across that.

Vibrato
While there are two different symbols for vibrato, as shown below, normally people only use the regular symbol. The wider symbol indicates a wider vibrato, but usually the size of the vibrato is more something that varies from guitarist to guitarist, rather than based on the piece of music itself. Bent vibrato doesn’t have any special symbol, it just is indicated by the vibrato symbol after a bend. Usually, there are a number of tie notes indicating when to perform the bend and when to start the vibrato, but the example below is still basically a whole note, just a very articulated one. There is no special symbol for bar vibrato, usually, it is shown as a normal vibrato, but with a note above, as shown below.

Bends
Bends have to indicate what type of bend it is, and the size of the bend. A full bend refers to a whole step (as in moving up two frets), a half bend is moving up half a step (one fret), while a quarter bend refers to a change smaller than moving up a half step (these aren’t always necessarily exactly performed, but need to be small, yet audible pitch changes). Very rarely will you see precise bending below a full step other than a half or quarter step, but it does sometimes happen. David Lee Roth’s “Yankee Rose” has a part requiring very precise, unusually sized bends. Keep in mind that virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai was the guitarist for that song, so it is very unusual. Larger bends do occasionally crop up though, but work the same.

In addition, there are different kinds of bends, and multiple bends can be used in the same note. If a straight up and down line is present in a bend (like in the second bar), that means the string should be bent to that pitch before it is played, then it is released. Usually, pre-bends are held bends from a previous bar, but sometimes they start on their own.

Harmonics
The below example shows a variety of different types of harmonics in guitar tab. The first bar is all natural harmonics. Occasionally, this notation might be used for artificial harmonics if the tab is sloppily done, but it is pretty easy to tell if the notes listed aren’t natural harmonic nodes.

The second bar shows a few types of artificial harmonics. The first is a pinch harmonic (P.H.) with the note being fretted indicated. The second is a semi-harmonic (S.H.) with the note fretted being indicated. A semi-harmonic is basically what happens when you slightly miss the node, so you end up with both the fundamental and harmonic going at the same time (tricky to do consistently, but it can sound quite neat). The last is more akin to how a harp harmonic is listed. The fretted note is indicated in the tab itself, while above the tab, the harp harmonic node is indicated and the harmonic note is listed below the score. This varies a bit from publisher to publisher. Some use H.H. for harp harmonic, some list the harmonic node in parenthesis next to the fretted note on the tab, and some will omit either the harmonic node location or the note (never both because you need one to know what harp harmonic to use). If you ever see A.H. without a node location or note, it usually is referring to a pinch harmonic.

Every mechanical guitar technique does have its own symbols, so you may run across unfamiliar symbols from time to time. The above should give you a strong enough understanding to read most guitar tab, but don’t be afraid to look up any symbols you don’t recognize. Most professional guitar tab books do have notation guides in the back that, at least, tell you what the symbol means, and a few will even give you an idea of how it is played.

Keep on rockin'!