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.