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How to Read Guitar Tab - Free Guitar Tablature Sites.

Anna Rowe

Guitar tab is a method of diagramming the fretboard of a guitar for the purpose of showing how songs, riffs, scales, and other musical portions are played.

Guitar tab, also known as tablature, is really a method guitar players have invented for sharing music without having to learn to read music in the traditional sense. Knowing how to read guitar tablature is an important part of learning how to play the guitar, especially if you wish to emulate the style of your favorite performer.

Learning how to read guitar tablature will help the most if you have already heard the song or riff. It is not a very good way to learn a new song, because there are no indicators about timing. Basically it is just a diagram of fingering. It looks similar to a traditional staff, but the similarity ends there. Instead of 5 lines, guitar tab has 6 lines, which correspond to the six strings of a guitar.

When you are learning how to read guitar tab, you will notice numbers on the lines. Those numbers do not refer to your fingers, but to the fret your finger needs to be on. However, you should read all the information given with any guitar tablature, because sometimes the notations refer to different things. Guitar tab is not a standardized method of writing music and varies with styles and guitarists.

One of the biggest drawbacks with guitar tab is that it doesn`t give you much input about the timing of the notes, and for this reason, you really should know the song. In fact, if you are learning how to read guitar tab, you should read the tablature while listening to the song or riff.

Unlike beginning books for teaching yourself to play guitar, guitar tab will not tell you which finger to use on a string. If you are a very new beginner, you may want to know the basics of chords and such before venturing into learning how to read guitar tablature.

The website "Guitar Tab Universe" (www.guitartabs.cc) gives tabs for many familiar songs. In fact, it advertises itself as the Internet`s largest collection of guitar and bass tabs. One warning - you`ll have to scroll through a lot of band names to get to the artist you want, and some of those names are obscene. If obscenities bug you, try a different site.

Christian.totaltabs.com gives you access to tabs or chords for 631 songs

In general, if you are searching for online guitar tabs, you need to specify the type of music you desire or you will probably get a lot of listings for rock tabs. Fortunately, you are sure to find just the songs to use to teach yourself how to read guitar tab.

Guitar great`s tribute to Wes

Evening Standard (London) , Jul 6, 2005 by JACK MASSARIK

Pat Martino

Ronnie Scott`s Club, W1

EVEN now, 37 years after his early death, guitarists miss the unique Wes Montgomery. Pat Martino, one of the finest, past or present, certainly feels that way. Nearly all the pieces he selected last night were by that self-taught Indianapolis genius. Crisply octaved themes like Full House and Four on Six, rich in call- andresponse figures, they sounded fresh even though played close to the spirit of the original recordings, a technical challenge still.

Tomorrow night Martino`s programme might be completely different, but somehow I doubt it.

"After reviewing my own past," said the slim American, who had to relearn the guitar from scratch in 1980 after brain surgery, "I find it increasingly necessary to pay tribute to a man whose music means so much to me."

Backed attentively backed by in-demand pianist Rick Germanson, here with violinist Regina Carter only last month, bassist Andy Lalisis, a stocky, hard-driving bassist who looks like Johnny Vegas`s big brother, and hometown Philadelphia drummer Scott Robinson, Martino hit the ground running. A brisk original, Mac Tough, tested their technique to the full.

Like a young Johnny Griffin or Tubby Hayes, Martino`s time-feel was relentlessly urgent, always pushing the beat forward, never merely riding it.

But after the soulful Montgomery moods came Miles Davis`s classic ballad Blue in Green, where guitar technique became subservient to feeling in a superb performance.

Gareth Williams, whose lively piano trio appears opposite, often switches to guitar, but he kept it in the dressing-room last night. Shrewd move, Gazz.

. Until Saturday. Information: 020 7439 0747.

(c)2005. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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