tabulatur

Tablature, often shortened to tab, is a form of musical notation that communicates instrument fingering rather than precise pitch. In a tablature system, lines represent the strings of the instrument and numbers indicate which fret to press. A zero typically means an open string, while other numbers specify the fret to press. Some tabs also use X to denote a muted string. Tablature is especially common for fretted instruments such as guitar, bass, lute, mandolin, and ukulele, and is valued for its direct, hands-on guidance to fretboard positions.

Historically, tablature originated in the medieval period for lute and other plucked fretted instruments. The lute tablatures of French, Italian, and German schools used distinct symbols and layouts tied to those instruments’ tunings. In the modern era, guitar tablature became widespread in the 18th–20th centuries and has since become a dominant format for sharing popular music parts, often alongside standard notation or as a standalone learning aid.

How it is read varies slightly by instrument, but the typical modern guitar tab uses six horizontal lines. The bottom line represents the low E string, the top line the high E string. Numbers on the lines indicate frets, while rhythm and timing are sometimes implied or shown with accompanying notation or rhythm slashes. Some sources also include chord diagrams or vertical bars to show measure structure.

Tablature is easy to learn for beginners and useful for quickly learning melodies and chord shapes. However, it may omit detailed rhythmic information and expressive nuances found in standard notation. Despite this, it remains a widespread tool in instructional material and casual guitar learning.