Tablature

Tablature is a form of musical notation designed for musical instruments which gives the player instructions on where to put their fingers rather than which notes to play. Tablatures are most important for fretted stringed instruments, but there were also tablature systems for keyboard instruments and the recorder during the Renaissance and baroque period. Tablature is sometimes referred to as tab for short.

Tablature is commonly written for the guitar, bass, lute and vihuela, but in principle it can be used for any fretted stringed instrument, including, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, and viola da gamba. It is commonly used in notating pop music, and is often seen in folk music.

Origin

Lute tablatures were of three main varieties, French, Italian (used also in Spain), and German. The French tablature gradually came to be the most widely used. Tablatures for other instruments were also used from early times on. Keyboard tablatures flourished in Germany c. 1450 - 1750 and in Spain c. 1550 - 1680. Much of the music for the lute and other historical plucked instruments during the Renaissance and Baroque eras was originally written in tablature, and many modern players of those instruments still prefer this kind of notation, often using facsimiles of the original prints or manuscripts, handwritten copies, modern editions in tablature, or printouts made with specialized computer programs for typesetting lute tablature.

Concepts

While standard musical notation represents the rhythm and duration of each note and its pitch relative to the scale based on a thirteen tone division of the octave, tablature is instead operationally based, indicating where and when a finger should be depressed to generate a note, so pitch is denoted implicitly rather than explicitly. The rhythmic symbols of tablature tell when to start a note, but often there is no indication of when to stop sounding it, so duration is at the discretion of the performer to a greater extent than is the case in conventional musical notation. Tablature for plucked strings is based upon a diagrammatic representation of the strings and frets of the instrument, keyboard tablature represents the keys of the instrument, and recorder tablature shows whether each of the fingerholes is to be closed or left open.

Like standard notation, guitar tablature consists of a series of horizontal lines forming a staff (or stave). Each line represents one of the instrument's strings (so standard guitar tab has a six-line staff). Numbers are written on the lines, with each number representing a fret on the instrument. For instance, a number 3 written on the top line of the staff indicates that the player should press down on the high E (top/thin) string (instead of the low E, which is a thicker string) at the third fret.

The most common form of lute tablature uses the same concept but differs in the details, and is described further below.

Guitar Tablature vs. Standard Notation

Tablature has several advantages over standard notation. Since it is a direct visual representation of the instrument's fretboard, it can often be easier and quicker for the player to interpret. Musicians learning to play the guitar or lute often find tablature easier to read, even if they have a strong musical background and are adept at reading standard notation for piano or voice. This is because the guitar and lute, like the piano, are 'harmonic' instruments, meaning that multiple notes are played at once; yet there is more complexity to producing a particular pitch than is the case with the piano: to produce, say, middle C, a pianist simply presses the C key, while a guitarist must select the second string, press the string down against the first fret with their left hand, and simultaneously pluck or pick the string with their right hand. An additional potential source of confusion is the fact that many of the notes within the range of a plucked string instrument can be played on several different strings, so for example the middle C discussed above could also be played on the third string at the fifth fret or on the fourth string at the tenth fret. These complexities make the relation between standard notation and playing technique less direct in the case of fretted instruments than in the case of a piano. Tablature removes the string/fret ambiguity.

Additionally, because standard guitar notation is written on one staff (compared to two staves for keyboard music), interpreting complex chords from standard notation can take a while for even the most experienced guitarist. Tablature does not suffer from this disadvantage.

Another strong advantage of tablature over standard notation is that tablature can easily be represented in a plain-text document, using numbers, letters and symbols to construct a rudimentary representation of an instrument's fretboard. This characteristic makes it easy to distribute tablature electronically, a practice that has become immensely widespread; it is now possible to find tablature for virtually any popular music on the Internet. There are thus two types of tablature: 'standard' printed tablature, such as that found in published sheet music (usually along with standard notation), and 'text-tab' or ASCII tab, such as that found on the internet.

Printed guitar tablature looks like this (the tab notation is on the bottom staff, with the equivalent standard notation on top):

ASCII guitar tab is discussed in detail below, and an example of a piece in lute tablature is given at the end of this article.

Tablature does have several disadvantages, however. It is instrument-specific, while standard notation is generic. This limitation means, for instance, that only a guitarist can read guitar tablature, while a melody written in standard notation can be played by any suitable instrument, including guitar.

Another limitation of the simplest form of tablature is that it does not represent the rhythm of the notes, only their pitch. In practice, this is not much of a limitation; some players read tablature and standard notation in tandem, while others listen to a recording to get the 'feel' of the music before consulting the tablature for instructions on how to play. Most published tablature is accompanied by standard notation so the two can be compared. Moreover, several more sophisticated variants of tablature have been developed which do include information about rhythm, and these variants are becoming increasingly common in printed tablature, though the limitations of plain-text format mean that ASCII tab rarely includes such information.

ASCII Guitar Tablature

Tab for a six-string guitar with standard tuning begins with a staff of six lines. In ASCII tab, the tablature for the shape of a C major chord looks like this:

        C
e |-----0------|
B |-----1------|
G |-----0------|
D |-----2------|
A |-----3------|
E |-----x------|

The number on each line corresponds to the fret on the neck of the guitar to be played. Fret "0" means that string is played open, or without any fingering. Fret one is the first fret from the headstock. Guitar tablature is done from high-to-low and left-to-right, like a musical staff. The bottom line on tablature corresponds to the "thick" E string, the one producing the lowest note. The low E string is not played (denoted by x) during a C major chord. (Note that sometimes an "x" means that the string should be played, but muted with either the left-hand fingers or the right-hand palm.)

For arpeggiated chords, the notes will be in a progression. For instance, the song "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. uses arpeggiated D major and G major chords through the chorus of the song. Here are a D major chord and a G major chord written in tablature form:

      D       G
e |---2-------3---|
B |---3-------3---|
G |---2-------0---|
D |---0-------0---|
A |---x-------2---|
E |---x-------3---|

The progression of the intro to "Everybody Hurts" looks like this:

       D                         G
e |----------2-----------2-------------3-----------3----|
B |--------3---3-------3---3---------3---3-------3---3--|
G |------2-------2---2-------2-----0-------0---0--------|
D |----0-----------0------------------------------------|
A |-----------------------------------------------------|
E |------------------------------3-----------3----------|

Tablatures often signify the chord being played, above the staff. Fingering the entire shape of a chord rather than the individual notes is a fundamental part of basic guitar knowledge.

Other techniques, such as hammer-ons, string pulls (or pull-offs), slides, and bends are also shown in tablature. Hammer-ons are usually shown with an "h" in between the fret to strike and the fret to hammer on. String pulls are shown with a "p". "Tribute to the Greatest Song in the World" by Tenacious D is one example of a song that uses both of these:

    Am (A minor)
e |-------------0-0-0-0-0-0-----0-------0-0-0-0-0-|
B |-------------1-1-1-1-1-1h3p1p0h1-----1-1-1-1-1-|
G |-----0h2-----2-2-2-2-2-2-----2-------2-2-2-2-2-|
D |-0h2-------2-2-2-2-2-2-2-----2-----2-2-2-2-2-2-|
A |---------0---0-0-0-0-0-----------0---0-0-0-0-0-|
E |-----------------------------------------------|

Slides are shown in the same format, but with a slash (/) in between the fret to slide from and the fret to slide to. Slides are used primarily in blues music and country music. "ATWA" by System of a Down is a song that uses these:

("ATWA" is played in Drop D tuning)

e |----------------------------------------------------|
B |----------------------------------------------------|
G |----3-----2-----5-----7------8------7-----5-----3---|
D |----------------------------------------------------|
A |----------------------------------------------------|
D |--5---5/3---3/7---7/8---8/10---10/8---8/7---7/5---5-|

Bending is shown by a letter b (not to be confused with a capital B for the B string). In tablature, a bend can show how far the string is to be bent, when the string is to be released (denoted by an r), or that it is a bend to an unspecific note. Examples:

e |---------------------------------------|
B |---------------------------------------|
G |--5b7--------5b7r5--------5b--------5br|
D |---------------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------------|
E |---------------------------------------|

In the first example, a note played at the fifth fret on the G string (the note C) is bent up one full step so that it sounds like a note played at the seventh fret on the G string (the note D); secondly, the same note is played, but the bend is released so that the string again sounds a C note; thirdly, the string is bent to an undetermined note; fourthly, the string is bent to an undetermined note, and released back to the C note.

Lute Tablature

Lute tabulature is conceptually similar to guitar tablature, but comes in at least three different varieties. The most common variety used today is based on the French Renaissance style (see example at right). In this style the strings are represented by the spaces on the staff (rather than the lines on the staff, as for guitar tablature), and the stops are indicated by lowercase letters of the alphabet (rather than numbers), with the letter 'a' indicating an open string and the 'j' skipped to avoid confusion with the 'i'. A six-line staff is used, just as for modern guitar tablature. However, stops for the first course are shown immediately above the top line, and stops for any courses beyond the sixth are shown below the bottom line, with short horizontal strokes to extend the staff similar to the way very low notes are shown in regular musical notation.

The first five letters are often written in the Greek alphabet rather than the Roman: α, β, γ, δ, ε, and the gamma is often stylized to the point of looking like an 'r', so a stop for the second fret variously shows up as 'c', 'γ', or 'r'. (It appears as 'r' in the example below.) Roman letters are used for stops further up the neck, even when Greek letters are used for the lower stops.

Lute tablature provides flags above the staff to show the rhythms, often only providing a flag at the start of the measure and when the length of the beat changes, as shown in the example below. (Notice that the piece in the image begins with a half measure.)

Other variants of lute tablature use numbers rather than letters, write the stops on the lines rather than in the spaces, or even invert the entire staff so that the lowest notest are on top and the highest are at the bottom.

Due to the similarities in tuning, a tenor viola da gamba can be played directly off lute tablature. A guitar can be played off lute tabulature by tuning the g string down to an f# and putting a capo at the third fret to preserve the original pitch.

German lute tablature

The origins of German lute tablature can be traced back well into the 15th century. Blind organist Conrad Paumann is said to have invented it. It was used in German speaking countries until the end of 16th century. When German lute tablature was invented, the lute had only five courses, obviously, which are numbered 1-5, with 1 being the lowest sounding course and 5 the highest. Each place where a course can be stopped at a fret is assigned with a letter of the alphabet, i. e. first course first fret is letter a, second course first fret is letter b, third course first fret is c, fourth course first fret is d, fifth course first fret is e, first course second fret is f, second course second fret is g and so on. Letters j, u, w, are not used. Therefore, two substitutional signs are used, i. e. et (resembling the numeral 7) for fourth course fifth fret, and con (resembling the numeral 9) for fifth course fifth fret. From the sixth position upwards, the alphabetical order is resumed anew with added apostrophes (a', b', ...), strokes above the letters, or the letters doubled (aa, bb, ...). When a 6th course was added to the lute around 1500 CE, different authors would use different symbols for it. Chords are written in vertical order. Melodical moves are notated in the highest possible line, notwithstanding their actual register. Rhythmical signs, which are written in a line above the letters, are single shafts (semibreves), shafts with one flag (minims), shafts with two flags (crotchets), shafts with three flags (quavers), shafts with four flags (semiquavers). Shafts with two or more flags can be connected ("leiterlein", small ladders) into groups of two or four.

Examples:

         French Italian German

          -r-     ---     k
          -d-     ---     o
          -d- =   -0-  =  n
          -a-     -3-     2
          ---     -3-     
          ---     -2-

See also

Categories

• Musical notation