Ukulele 101: How To Read Ukulele Tab Part 1
January 3, 2008
Happy 2008 everyone. I hope you enjoyed the holiday season and got plenty of ukulele practice in.
Over the hols I’ve been busy writing a guide to reading ukulele tab. A few people have asked me about it and I’ve had to direct them elsewhere which isn’t ideal as I don’t think there’s a really comprehensive guide around.
So, while everyone was quaffing egg-nog and kissing under the mistletoe (possibly at the same time), I was writing about ukulele tab. If you want to make up for my kissless Christmas, feel free to snog my face off in gratitude.
It ended up being 15 pages long, so I’ve divided into parts and the first is after the jump.
How to Read Ukulele Tab
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Muso types like to bemoan the rise of tablature (or tab) but it’s been a way of representing music for hundreds of years. This picture shows tab for the Vihuela (an early guitar-like instrument)from the 16th Century.
Tablature is used to represent music for a specific instrument and is an alternative to standard notation (the one with dots and lines).
Tablature has a couple of advantages. Firstly, it’s much easier to learn to read than standard notation and much more accessible for those without formal musical training.
Secondly, it tells you on which string to play a particular note. This is particularly important on the ukulele as the strings are tuned so close together and the way in which you play them can change how easy it is to play a tune a great deal.
Basic Tab
Frets & Strings
Each of the horizontal lines represents a string on the ukulele. However, they are upside down from what you might expect. The top line of the tab is the A string (the one that’s closest to the floor when you’re playing); the line below that is the E string; the line below that is the C string and the bottom line of the tab is G string.
That takes a little getting used to. I think of tab as being from the perspective of the ukulele flipped up towards my head.
The numbers that appear on the tab indicate which string to play and what fret to play it at (you can ignore the 4/4 at the beginning for now).
Here, the note is on the second line down representing the E string. You should play this string and only this string..
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The number 1 indicates that the string should be played at the first fret. Playing the E string at the first fret gives us an F note.
Open strings – ones played without fretting a note at all – are indicated by a 0. In this case the E string will be played without fretting a note.
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Notes Played In Sequence
When notes appear one after the other horizontally in the tab, you play them in sequence – one after the other – and stopping them before the next note starts.
In this example, the E string is played open, then at the first fret, then at the third fret and, for the final note, the A string is played open. Click on the player to hear this example (after a four beat introduction – we’ll be going over that later).
Notes Played Simultaneously
When notes appear in the same position vertically, they are played at the same time.
Here two notes are being played together each time. First, the C string is played at the second fret while the E string is played at the first fret.
After that note, you play the C string at the fourth fret at the same time as playing the E string at the third fret.
It then shifts to a new pair of strings: E and A. The E string is played at the first fret and the A string is played open.
Tab for Chords
Whole chords can be written the same way.
Try to play the chord in this example.
You should have the G string being played at the second fret and the E string at the first fret with the other notes ringing open. This creates the F-chord shape that you are probably familiar with.
When chords are being strummed, you will often see arrows in the tab (in some tabs, these arrows have wavy rather than straight lines – they indicate exactly the same thing).
These arrows indicate which direction you should strum in. An up arrow indicates a down strum, and a down arrow indicates an up strum. Don’t look at me, I didn’t invent the system. .
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Read the rest of the series here: How to Read Ukulele Tab.
This series was derived from my ebook Ukulele 101: 101 Things Every Ukulele Player Needs to Know.
You do great work! Are you a special software application to create your tabs? Thanks!
Need to proofread! Should say…Are you *using* a special software application to create your tabs? Thanks!
Very nice!
Now I know where to refer my friends!
Soon…we shall start our own Ukulele Orchestra the likes of which have never been seen!
…don’t know how popular a ukulele orchestra from New Jersey can be though…
Bob: I use Guitar Pro to make my tabs. Power Tab is similar and free.
Nelson: A ukulele orchestra? In Great Britain? It’d never work :D
Haha… and of course not…. who would ever have a crazy idea like that?
….now a place that it wouldn’t work is where I live… only one other person I know plays the uke…. oh well. Such is the curse of living in the USA (well, Texas, at least… I think i’d know plenty of other uke players if I was in hawaii…. but that’s different)
Anyways… great to see you back bloggin’… I was starting to go insane with the lack of your posts…. wel, actually, I was occupied with going insane trying to decide on a new uke to buy… still not sure….
http://liveukulele.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/aint-no-way.pdf
I was checking out this Live Ukulele Site and found some tricky tab notation.
How do you do the following?
5/7\5 Is this a continuous slide, one pluck?
3h5p3 Is this one pluck for 3 notes?
Thanks, Jeff
Al, so well presented …thanks.
Nelson, go for it … if you are ever in the North East of England be sure to ‘check out’ the Ukulele Allstars (shameless plug)
Jeff, what a pleasant plucking song!
Al, not wishing my life away … but keep ‘em coming.
Top stuff as ever…
Nice one Woodshed, yet again – and a Happy New Year to you, may your 2008 be uke-ing wonderful!
Thanks for the comments and good wishes, folks.
Ian: There must be some uke players in Texas. Enough for a Uke Fest.
Jeff: That tab is a little different from mine, but I’m pretty sure it’s just one pick for all three notes in each case.
Ritchie: Will do.
Dom: Thanks.
Winger: And to you!
Happy 2008!
Beautifully done! Easy and very clear representation of ukulele tabs. Can
you include a pdf version of these
lessons (without music sample) so that
a hard copy can be printed out.
Thanks so much for sharing your talent.
God Bless!
Ron
Thanks, Ron.
This is going to be part of an ebook I’m writing. I might give away this section of it as a pdf. I haven’t decided yet.
New Uke player as of 12-24-2007, great site and the tips are great!
Thanks, Cysero. Always good to hear from new uke players.
True… I had heard of that somewhere before… but I’d forgotten about it…
…haven’t had the chance to go, as I’m kindof a school aged kid who happens to be 1) in school during the fest and 2) a few hours driving from where the festeval is held…. someday, though…. someday…
Oh, and by the way…. Cysero… welcome ‘aboard’!
Meh, steal a car and skip school :D
Found the chord instruction over my head. I will review this one and let you know. Didn’t even look at the Ragtime stuff. I may be a bit sluggish on this music thing; I must have Van Gogh’s ear for music. I’m not stoppin’ now! Like your approach to helping us Newbies out here.
Sorry about that, Ron. Is there anything in particular you’re struggling with?
thanks i understand tab now! yay
You’re welcome. Glad you found it helpful.
So the Tab is the same as guitar?
Pretty much, yes.
This is great stuff, but there’s a little glitch. In the “Notes Played In Sequence” portion, the play button takes me to a jpeg.
Thanks for letting me know, seeso. It seems like it’s working fine for me. And the link seems to be ok. I’m stumped.
Hmm, I just checked your code. The swf file in question is wrapped in anchor tags that do point to the jpg.
For Firefox, that doesn’t matter, the swf file will behave as you intended.
For Safari, a click on the swf will result in the execution of the anchor tag.
The other swf files on the page are not wrapped in anchor tags. If you got rid of the anchor tags around that swf file, the problem should go away.
Thanks, Seeso. Fixed it. I think.
Yup, all fixed.
Hey, thanks alot for this. I asked for a ukulele for my 16th birthday and am really enjoying playing it. This site has helped so much and now I can read tab. :D Also thanks so much for doing all the Beirut stuff, starting to get the hang of The Penalty and Postcards now, although my index finger is a little painful. Anyway sorry for being a little off topic!
Thanks, Rosie. I’m glad you’re finding the site helpful. Your fingers will be calloused up and pain free before you know it ;)
wow, i like this!
do you know if this also works the same for the baritone uke? do you know of any good tab sites for the baritone? Im asking because I just picked one up and am trying to learn how to play.
hmm…
maybe a dumb question, but what about when it’s just notes on the tab, not numbers? As well, how could I read music transcribed for another instrument (in note format [probably not the correct lingo, but what I got...]), like guitar…or can’t I?
Thanks in advance,
Orin
orin: This post should help you with the first question.
The second one is trickier. It is possible, but usually you’ll have to transpose it so the notes fit on the uke.
to all at the top…
i live in australia and i know at least 4 or 5 people who play the uke
Felix: Good to hear people are picking it up in Australia. You hear the New Zealand scene mentioned a lot more.
Seriously I thought looking at tablature it looked ridiculously complex but luckily it isnt based on what i read on here thanks so much. Im going to purchase a uke asap and learn off this site thanks so much
Go get one, Justin!
Just looking at your website. Will give it a go. Never played before.
Andrea: Good luck with it.