Tabs-Chords-Charting

Tablature

Suffice it to say, a “tab” is a picture of the guitar neck, oriented as shown above.

The Tab Explained…

Check out this tab of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” with fret numbers shown on skinny String 1:

Alternative Ways to Chart Guitar Parts…

Yo dude, if ya already know a few chords, what’s wrong with this?

G                    D                    Em
     I read the news today, oh boy

(Guitar Chords on words, or what I call “Lead Sheet” format)

— or THIS ?

Chord Mapping:
4
/      G     D     /     Em     /    C    F      /     Em     /
4     V V  V V      V V V V      V V  V V       V V V V  
                         ( ‘V” = 1 beat or downstrum)

WHERE THERE ARE 4 BEATS PER MEASURE; (4/4 TIME MEANS 4 QUARTER NOTES, OR BEATS to a measure).

Between the bar “/” marks lie 4 beats (one measure). If there’s one chord in there, it gets 4 beats; if there are two chords, they each get 2 beats. There are many variations and elaborations to this simple concept, which I call a CHORD MAP.