

Hopefully you are starting to understand the basics of how to read ukulele tabs or tablature now. This is mostly used when people are trying to show you what the rhythm and tempo is. Here you can see the following chords: F, G, C, Am, D7 and G7. This means that you should play all the notes vertically aligned together (as a chord). However it may be that chords are shown as below. Most of the time you will simply see the chord name above the lyrics or a few chord names next to each other. Then… you see, you already know how to read ukulele tabs! xA|-3-| Then you would pluck the open E string (open string = 0), followed by the open C string. In this example you would: pluck the 3rd fret of the bottom string (A). But how do you play this? A tab is always read from left to right and each number refers to the fret number. Starting with this base, numbers will be written over the “strings” and it will look something like the illustration below.

So when you are looking at the neck of your ukulele (with the headstock at the top and the body at the bottom) the G string is the one furthest to the left and A is the one furthest to the right. Each line represents a string, from bottom to top: GCEA. The very basis of every single tab is these four lines, usually shown with dashes. Let’s start at he very beginning, with the base of a tablature and how to read ukulele tabs. Note: if you know how to read guitar tabs, you also know how to read ukulele tabs! Basics of h ow to read ukulele tabs – you gotta start somewhere They show you exactly where to place your fingers on the fretboard and usually show the tempo as well. Tabs can be very handy to have when you are trying to learn a fingerpicking song. It is a lot simpler than musical scores for the piano, let’s say, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to learn.

Music tablature or tab is essentially another kind of musical notation for stringed instruments (as distinct from staffs, with treble clefs and notes).
