Pick’n Roll 101


Tablature on the Guitar

Reading tablature on the guitar fretboard:

In tablature reading, unlike the standard notation system, there are six lines instead of five. Each line represents a guitar string as shown in the diagram. The numbers on the tablature are fret numbers. The number ”0” means we play the open string.


Note Durations

Although we are independent of standard notation reading, we are not independent of timing. For this reason, I am adding the note duration chart here. In the exercises and pieces, we present the tablature and the notation together. We can understand the timing of each number on the tablature, meaning each sound, from the note durations directly above it.


Tablature and Staff

You can read the finger numbers on the fretboard from the tablature, and you can read the note durations along with the right- and left-hand fingerings from the staff.