Level 1 · The basics · 10 min
Read tab in time
By the end, you can read strings, frets and note lengths across two bars.
Before this lesson
Lesson steps
1 The lines
Point to the two strings used in the tab.
2 min
Check for · You identify the first line at the top and the second just below it.
More detail
The six lines represent the strings. Read the numbers from left to right. Zero means open, and 1 means the first fret.
2 One click per quarter note
Count four clicks out loud for each bar.
2 min · Quarter note = 48, 1 note per click
Revisit the tablature · Step 1
Check for · Your count returns to one after the fourth click.
More detail
A bar is the group between two barlines. Here a quarter note lasts one click. An eighth note lasts half a click.
3 Two notes in one beat
Say “one and two and three and four and” with the clicks.
3 min · Quarter note = 48, 1 note per click
Revisit the tablature · Step 1
Check for · Numbers land on clicks. Each “and” comes halfway between them.
More detail
The syllables divide each beat in half. Keep counting them mentally through the longer notes.
4 Play what you read
Play both bars, following the numbers from left to right.
3 min · Quarter note = 48, 1 note per click
Revisit the tablature · Step 1
Check for · The first bar has four attacks. The second fits six attacks into the same four clicks.
More detail
In bar 2 the notes come in pairs on beats 1 and 3. One note fills each of beats 2 and 4.
You can move on when…
You pass when you play both bars three times and the second bar starts on time every time.
If a movement feels difficult
I treat every 1 as a string number.
Find the line before reading the fret number.
I give each eighth note a whole click.
Speak both halves of the beat before playing bar 2 again.