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Tablature is one of the oldest forms of written music...it is a visual approach to reading music that gives you an exact position of finger placement on your instrument's fingerboard. There are many advantages of tablature that many are not aware of...for instance, if you use different tunings, tablature does not deviate from the standard number positioning; whereas, standard notation has to be re-learned for every tuning. Additionally, standard notation requires a roman numeral positioning to denote where to place your fingers. Tablature is much more direct. Ultimately, it's best to become well-versed in both standard notation and tablature. This is why most of the music presented within the FOTW Lessons section has both the Tablature and Standard Notation written at the same time. One should help the other...when confused about a timing sequence...or a melodic passage, sometimes it helps to cross reference between both types of written music.

Shown above is the music notation used throughout the FOTW Lessons Section..Notice that the top staff consists of standard notation and the bottom staff is our tablature number system. Don't concern yourself with the standard notation yet...we're first going to focus on learning to read tablature. Upon learning tablature, you can cross reference any place you may be on the staff and learn more about standard notation.



A tablature description: the letters to the right of each line represent the name of the string. In this mandolin tab representation, the top line represents the "E" string...the next below the "E" would be the "A" string...the next below the "A" would be the "D" string...and the next below the "D" string would be the "G" string. So visually, you're looking at the mandolin strings, as represented by these lines, upside down.



For Rhythm: Notice the 4 over 4 at the start of the standard notation. This establishes that every measure consists of 4 beats with a quarter note, represented by a single stem, as a single beat. If you tap your foot, and count to four, each quarter note would represent one beat. The four beats are divided up by what is called a measures. Measures are divided up by the vertical lines you see in both the standard notation and the tablature. In some cases, we'll add numbers below the tablature...The numbers below all of the lines: 1 2 3 4 represent the timing of the piece. If you were to tap your foot in a rhythmic manner as you count to four methodically, you have the beat of the piece. In this case, it would be 4/4 timing. In the case of waltz timing you would have a count of 1 2 3 for each measure...written out as 3/4. You'll notice also the line that separates the two measures that run vertically through the tablature. This line divides each measure so that you can always tell how many beats are in a measure. If this was a waltz (3/4) piece, it would look like the following:



Adding Notes to the Tablature

We will now incorporate notes or finger positions to the tablature which will be represented by numbers on each line. Following is a simple mandolin exercise that incorporates the numbering we are discussing. Each number will represent what note to be played. For instance, a number "1" means to place your finger behind the first fret. A number "4" would mean to place your finger behind the 4th fret of the string being represented by the line it's placed on...for example, if the "4" is on the top line, you will play the "E" string at the 4th fret. If the "4" is on the third line from the top, you will place your finger behind the 4th fret on the "D" string. A "0" would mean the string would be played open without fretting.

Here's a "C" major scale played forwards and backwards:

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