How to Read Ukulele Tab

Tablature, or Tab, is a way of writing ukulele music that shows which strings to use, and which frets to press. The difference between this and traditional chord diagrams is that tab can show you how many strings to use at once. But if you haven't seen tab before, it can be difficult to understand how to read ukulele tab. Let's dive in and demonstrate!

Why read tab?

A chord diagram is a simple way of showing how to play a chord. However, it doesn't show you the rhythm. It also means that you strum all 4 strings at once (unless there's a small x above one of the strings, but that's relatively rare). Tab, on the other hand, notates the rhythms, note lengths, and any number of strings at once - even one at a time.

Looking at tab for the first time can be confusing, but once it's explained, it's very simple to understand.

How tab works

Instead of your usual 5 lines with traditional music, ukulele tab has 4 lines - one for each string. The G string is at the bottom, and the A at the top. Numbers on these lines show you which frets to press. So if we were to write a C chord in tab, it would look like the diagram to the right. Your finger is placed on the 3rd fret of the A string as normal.

When the notes are stacked on top of each other as in the diagram, it means that they are all played at the same time. 0 means do not press any frets, but pluck or strum the string. If we have numbers that are not stacked, they are played on their own. This might look like the next diagram:

Here we have a C scale written out with 2 chords in there, and some individual notes. These are all written out as 1 beat each. The tails of the notes (the lines coming downwards) show the length of the note as follows.

As I said before, any notes on top of each other are played at the same time. This isn't necessarily all of the strings at once, as seen on the right here.

Using the right fingers

For tab, you'll use one finger per string. This is thumb for G, index for C, middle for E and ring finger for A. These are notated slightly differently so that's where it can also get a little confusing. The notations used are:

• Thumb - p for pulgar

• Index - i for indice

• Middle - m for medio

• Ring - a for anular

You'll often see p, i, m and a written above certain notes to help you along, but not always.

How to read ukulele tab summary

So that's your quick start guide to reading tab - it seems complicated to start with, but once you pick it up, it's just a matter of practice. The more you read tab, the more you'll become familiar with it.

Best of luck with your tab journey! And remember - if you need any help or have any questions, please let me know on lloydukulele@hotmail.com.