Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Acoustic Guitar Tabs Make Learning Music Very Easy

Acoustic guitars have the advantage of having a much easier kind of music notation. In this notation, there are no notes, staffs and time signatures giving a much simpler and intuitive template called acoustic guitar tabs which are based on the position of the strings of the guitar. This way you are not required to learn to read music like you need to with other instruments.

Tablature or "tabs" are like little pictures of guitar strings which represent the acoustic guitar strings. The top string is the first row and the bottom one is the sixth row. On each of these rows you will have numbers that let you know the fret you are supposed to play. An open string is represented by the number "0" (zero), and an "X" represents a muffed string.

In case you did not know it, a fret is the area between the metal bars and the neck. It is the finger board of your guitar and usually there are somewhere like 21 to 24 frets on the acoustic guitar. Dots placed on the frets are there to give you a visual aid so you know where you are.

As you look at the acoustic guitar tabs you will notice that numbers all run in one line letting you know which fret you should be using on the one string that you are playing. These numbers act as a guide to show you that you should be playing each one of them individually. But when you see a number on each line and if the numbers are super imposed (on top) of one another this means that you have to play the notes all at the same time, and hence strum all six of your strings.

As you find out more on acoustic guitar tabs you will come across terms like pull offs, bends, slides and hammer ons. When you see the letter "h" this is a hammer on. So, for example you might see "7h9" on one of the rows. A "p" indicates pull offs, "b" indicates bends, and "/" (slash forward symbol) indicates slides.

Once you have familiarized yourself with reading music according to string position, the best thing to do is to search on the internet for basic acoustic guitar tabs of a tune that you know quite well. Now that you can read tabs, you will be surprised to find that you can play a tune quite quickly.

And you will be able to pick up a tune even faster if you can also listen to to while you are learning it. Try to get a feel for the beat even if the song is one that you know well. You will find that acoustic guitar tabs is an easy and fun way to learn and in time you will have mastered a collection of songs that you can play while at parties or for a private jam in the privacy of your own family home.

Ivan Calderwell shows you how to play using acoustic guitar tabs as well as everything there is to know on how to play acoustic guitar. For more articles and resources on this beautiful and melodic instrument, be sure to follow this link: acoustic guitar tabs.

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