You can get more from GT by understanding our easy-to-follow musical terms and signs...
READ MUSIC
Each transcription is broken down into two parts...
MUSICAL STAVE The five horizontal lines for music notation show note pitches and rhythms and are divided by bar lines.
TAB Under the musical stave, Tab is an aid to show you where to put your fingers on the fretboard. The six horizontal lines represent the six strings on a guitar – the numbers on the strings are fret numbers.
GUITAR TECHNIQUES: HOW THEY APPEAR IN WRITTEN MUSIC...
PICKING
Up and down picking
Tremolo picking
Palm muting
touching the string directly
over the fret indicated. A
harmonic results.
then lightly place the index
finger over ‘x’ fret (AH ‘x’) and
pick (with a pick, p or a).
& œ œ | 7 5 | ˛ ˝ | n The first note is to be down-picked and the last note is to be up-picked. | E B G D A E | œ bœ | œ œ | & | @ @ | @ @ | 5 4 7 8 | @ @ @ @ | n Each of the four notes are to be alternate picked (down- & up-picked) very rapidly and continuously. | E B G D A E | nœ | nœ | œ | & #œœ œ | œœ | œ œ œ œ œ | PM | PM | 8 8 7 7 6 6 7 7 | 0 0 0 0 0 | n Palm mute by resting the edge of picking-hand’s palm on the strings near the bridge. | E B G D A E | E B G D A E | & | rake | 5 | X | X | X | n Drag the pick across the strings shown with a single sweep. Often used to augment a rake’s last note. | |||||||||||
FRETTING HAND | Hammer-on & Pull-off | œ œ œ œ | & | n Pick 1st note and hammer on with fretting hand for 2nd note. Then pick 3rd note and pull off for 4th note. | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | E B G D A E | Note Trills | 8 | tr ~~~~~ | 5 | œ œ | & ˙ () b˙ | 7 | 5 | tr | ~~~~~ | ( ) | E B G D A E | n Rapidly alternate between the two notes indicated in brackets with hammer-ons and pull-offs. | E B G D A E | Slides (Glissando) | œ œ œ œ œ | & | 5 | 5 7 5 7 | n Pick 1st note and slide to the 2nd note. The last two notes show a slide with the last note being re-picked. | E B G D A E | Left Hand Tapping | œ | ˜ | ˜ | ˜ | œ œ | œ | œ | œ | 7 | 7 5 0 | ˜ ˜ | 5 0 | n Sound the notes marked with a square by hammering on/tapping with the fretting-hand fingers. |
BENDING AND | Bend up/down | n Fret the start note (here, the 5th fret) and bend up to the pitch of the bracketed note, before releasing. | VIBRATO | Re-pick bend | n Bend up to the pitch shown in the brackets, then re-pick the note while holding the bent note at the new pitch. | Pre bend | n Bend up from the 5th fret to the pitch of the 7th fret note, then pick it and release to 5th fret note. | Quarter-tone bend | n Pick the note and then bend up a quarter tone (a very small amount). Sometimes referred to as blues curl. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
E B G D A E | HARMONICS | Natural harmonics | #‚‚ | ‚ | ‚ | & | NH | 12 7 | 12 7 | 12 7 | n Pick the note while lightly | E B G D A E | Artificial harmonics | ‚ | ‚ | ‚ | & | AH16 AH17 AH19 | · · · | 4 7 | 5 | n Fret the note as shown, | E B G D A E | Pinched harmonics | — | — | — | & | ± PH | ±± | 7 5 | 7 | n Fret the note as shown, | E B G D A E | Tapped harmonics | ‚ | ‚ | ‚ | & | TH17 TH19 TH17 | 4 | · · · | 5 7 | n Fret the note as shown, but |
the side of the thumb as you
sound it with the pick.
sound it with a quick right-
hand tap at the fret shown
(TH17) for a harmonic.
CAPO
R/H TAPPING
Right-hand tapping
n Tap (hammer-on) with a
finger of the picking hand
onto the fret marked with a
circle. Usually with ‘i’ or ‘m’.