What is guitar music if all notes are equal in length? So now we need to know how long each note is in guitar tab. Well now we have a problem. This is not really possible in guitar tab. But for simple things it is possible to read the length of each note or chord from a guitar tab exercise.
Lets take the above guitar tab example, which as you can see is the simple form of the guitar text tab mentioned in the beginning of this article. Each dash (-) in this guitar tab is not only used for representing the string of the guitar but can also be used for the length of the notes. Lets asume each note is a quarter note. Then the above guitar tab example shows four quarter notes.
No problem at all. So usually there should be a note with the guitar tab which would explain which notes are used. Now this even allows up to 16th notes as is displayed in the next guitar tab example.
Each dash in this example now simply is a sixteenth note (except the first on at the beginning ). So this example shows three quarter notes and ending on four fast sixteenth notes on the end.
But as you can see this is quite hard to read. This is why we like to use the next type of guitar tab at musicansnews which also has much more possibilities.
1 1.
.
.
.
2.
.
.
.
3.
.
.
.
4.
.
.
.
E
0
B
0
0
G
0
D
2
A
2
E
0
This guitar tab shows the number of bars(Bar 1). The quarter or base notes of the guitar tab (1 2 3 4). And the in between notes are shown with the '.' symbol, in this case 4 per quarter notes sixteenths. Much easier to read isn't it?
So why should you even learn to read sheet music, when guitar tab can show you exactly how to play the notes on your guitar? Well not everything is possible with guitar tab. Sheet music is quite useful when it comes to complex rhythms, structures and note lengths.
