BluegrassParlor

Tablature is simply music notation for stringed instruments. Standard music notation works exceptionally well for voice, piano and other instruments but is not very well suited to stringed instruments. Standard music notation is also very useful in learning about music theory. If you want a thorough understanding of how music works you will certainly want to learn to read standard music notation. If this is the case I would also encourage you to take some piano lessons, as the piano is an incredibly useful tool to help you understand music theory.

However, if you just want to learn to play the banjo, or other stringed instrument, I would strongly encourage you to learn to read tablature. Some people do not like tablature because they believe that it harms your ability to play independent of tablature. I would agree that not being able to play without having tablature in front of you is a problem in the long term. However using tablature does not in any way cause you to be reliant on tablature. If you never work on memorization orimprovisation you will obviously not develop those skills. But someone who learns to memorize things note-by-note by ear (i.e. without using tablature) would be in the same position. So as long as you make the effort to play without music, to memorize first and eventually improvise, tablature will only benefit you.

Blank tablature looks like this:

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

There are vertical lines denoting measures and horizontal lines representing the strings. Banjo tablature has 5 horizontal lines and guitar tab would have 6 vertical lines.

The string are numbered as follows, remember the 5th string is the short one on the banjo.

1st |-----------------|
2nd |-----------------|
3rd |-----------------|
4th |-----------------|
5th |-----------------|

This layout seems arbitrary, especially on the banjo. Many students of mine have commented that it seems upside down, but there is a logic to this arrangement. If you disregard the 5th string the strings are arranged in the tablature with the lowest in pitch string, the 4th string, on the bottom and as you go up the tablature the strings also go up in pitch. Thus, the top line of the tablature represents the highest in pitch string, the 1st string. This method was developed long before the 5 string banjo was invented and is a very efficient and effective way to communicate stringed instrument arrangements.

The tablature is marked with numbers rather than note symbols. These numbers represent the fret at which the string should be fretted. A zero(0) indicates that the string should be played open, whereas a five(5) would indicate that string should be fretted at the 5th fret. The tablature would look something like this.

|---0--------| 1st string, Open
|------------|
|------------|
|-------5----| 4th string, 5th fret
|------------|

Tab is written to a widely varying degree of accuracy and precision. Some tab is written without any fingering or timing markings, I have even see tab without even measure lines. Some tablature on the other hand isthorough markedwith fingerings, timing, accents, and even dynamics clearly marked.

Examples:

The first example is just a stream of notes, no measures, no timing, no fingering.

------0-------0-----0-------0---------0-----0---
--0-------0-------------0---------0-------------
0-------0-------0---------------2~4-------------
-----------------------------------------4------
----0-------0-------0-------0-------0-------0---

The next one is a more common representation, measures are marked, some timing is marked, there is a slide marked, but no fingerings.

|------0-------0-|----0-------0---|------0-----0---|
|--0-------0-----|--------0-------|--0-------------|
|0-------0-------|0---------------|2s4-------------|
|----------------|----------------|--------4-------|
|----0-------0---|----0-------0---|----0-------0---|
| | | | | |

This final example is the most complete. It includes measure lines, all timing, all fingerings, the slide is specified, and the Chords are indicated.

G
m r
|------0-------0-|----0-------0---|------0-----0---|
|--0---|---0---|-|----|---0---|---|--0---|---------|
|0-|---|-0-|---|-|0---|---|---|---|2s4---|---------|
||-|---|-|-|---|-||---|---|---|---||-|---|-4-------|
||-|-0-|-|-|-0-|-||---0---|---0---||-|-0-|-----0---|
|_|_|_| |_|_|_| | | | | |_|_|_| | |
T I T M T I T M T TI I TI T I T M T TI

The uppercase letters below the tab are Right hand fingering, lowercase letters above the tab are left hand fingerings.

Here is a basic song, Boil them Cabbage, tabbed out. 1/4 notes are indicated with a vertical line beneath the quarter note, all other notes are 1/8 notes.

Boil them Cabbage

i r r i
||----0---0-----0-|----2---2-----0-|----0---0-----0-|
||--0-------0-----|--1-------1-----|--0-------0-----|
||0-----------0---|0-----------0---|0-----------0---|
||----------------|----------------|----------------|
||------0---------|------0---------|------0---------|
T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M

m i i m i r r i
|----0---0-----0-|----0---0-----0-|----2---2-----0-|
|--1-------1-----|--0-------0-----|--1-------1-----|
|2-----------2---|0-----------0---|0-----------0---|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|------0---------|------0---------|------0---------|
T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M T I M T M I T M

i m
|----0---0-----0-|----0-------0---||
|--0-------1-----|----|---0---|---||
|0-----------2---|0---|---|---|---||
|----------------||---|---|---|---||
|------0---------||---0---|---0---||
| | | |
T I M T M I T M T TM I TM