How To Read Tabs
Piano/Keyboard
Example
(the intro of "Nightswimming" by REM):
REM: Nightswimming (Automatic for the people)
tabbed by: Tor Undheim, [email protected]
intro:
4|-ga--g--|g---|-ga--g--|a---|
4|d----d--|e---|d----d--|d---|
2|g--g-h-3|c--2|g--g-h-3|d---|
b|1-2-3-4-|1234|1-2-3-4-|1234|
-the
numbers (1-7) to the left of the tab, indicates in what octave
(starting at the lowest C) to play the notes in that row. When numbers appear
elsewhere in a row, it is to indicate a new octave.
-ordinary letters (cdefgah) symbollices the corresponding notes
-capital letters (C,D,F,G and A) aare used instead of c#,d#, f#, g# and
a#.
-the symbol ">" is ussed to cut notes
-the symbol "|" is used to separate each measure (section of beats)
-the symbol "-" indicatees nothing
-the bottom row keeps track of >the beats, and tells if the notes
above are whole, half, quarter or etc. In the example above, a "-" in section 1
lasts half as long as a "-" in section 2. This "beat-line" is often hard to
write, or even meaningless. Therefore it is optional.
-under the tab it is preferable that the text of the song is written.
That way the users of the tab will have all they need in one piece.
-often songs contain parts where a accuraate tab is meaningless (or impossible).
In these cases it is enough to write chords (and text), maybe with an
explanation on how to play them. Chords are for instance: "A", "C", "Am", "Em7".
-I use the symbol "*" iff I want to comment something outside the tab
-To make the tab easier to read, try to wwrite the higher notes "above" the
deeper ones