BazzLow
ENIT
Module 3 · Lesson 1

Bass tablature

Read bass tab and know what it does and does not tell you.

Before this lesson: 1.5 Mapping the fretboard

There are two ways to write down a bass part. Tablature tells you where to put your fingers. Standard notation, which comes in the next lessons, tells you the pitch and the rhythm exactly. Tab is the easier one to start with.

How tab is drawn

Tablature, or tab, draws the strings as horizontal lines: 4 lines for a 4-string bass, 5 for a 5-string. It is often marked “TAB” at the start. The top line is the highest string (G) and the bottom line the lowest (E, or B on a 5-string). That is the same orientation as the fretboard diagrams on this site, so what you read on a tab matches what you see on a diagram.

  • A number on a line is the fret to play on that string.
  • 0 means the open string.
  • You read from left to right. Numbers stacked vertically are played at the same time.

An example

Here are eight notes: the natural notes from C up to the next C. First on the neck, then written as tab.

Bass neck, frets 0–12The D and A strings with eight notes marked. On the A string: C at fret 3, D 5, E 7, F 8. On the D string: G at fret 5, A 7, B 9, C 10.DA0123456789101112CDEFGABC
The D and A strings with eight notes marked. On the A string: C at fret 3, D 5, E 7, F 8. On the D string: G at fret 5, A 7, B 9, C 10.
Bass tablatureThe same eight notes as tab, read from left to right: A string frets 3, 5, 7, 8, then D string frets 5, 7, 9, 10.TAB357857910
The same eight notes as tab, read from left to right: A string frets 3, 5, 7, 8, then D string frets 5, 7, 9, 10.

What tab does not tell you

Tab shows where to play, but usually not the rhythm. Many transcriptions put the tab under a standard staff that gives the rhythm. Plain text tabs from the internet often have no rhythm at all: you need to know the song, or add the rhythm from lesson 2.2 on yourself.

Symbols

Tabs add small symbols. Conventions vary between publishers, so check the key of the book or site you are reading. These are the common ones:

Bass tablatureCommon tab symbols: h hammer-on; p pull-off; / slide up and \ slide down; ~ vibrato; x muted or dead note; a fret number in angle brackets, such as &lt;12&gt;, or marked Harm., a natural harmonic.TABh hammer-on5h7TABp pull-off7p5TAB/ slide up, \ slide down5/7\5TAB~ vibrato7~TABx muted (dead) notexTAB<12> natural harmonic<12>
Common tab symbols: h hammer-on; p pull-off; / slide up and \ slide down; ~ vibrato; x muted or dead note; a fret number in angle brackets, such as <12>, or marked Harm., a natural harmonic.

Natural harmonics are explained in lesson 1.7.

Try it

Read and play the eight-note tab above slowly. Then write your own one-bar tab of the open strings E A D G and play it.

New terms