How to read piano tabs, playing songs made simple

Learn How to read Piano Tabs and play your favorite songs today. A tab is a relatively easy way to denote notes of a song. Here, you will find all the information you need on how to read & play piano tabs, and links to tabs of popular songs.

Introduction to Tabs

Well, you don’t need to refer to "piano tabs" if you can read & write music in the traditional sheet music style.

But, even if you can read music, the other person with whom you want to share your music may not be able to read it… or it may happen that you may not have access to the manuscript on which you want to write.

That is where knowing how to read piano tabs comes handier.

Basically, it is an easier way of sharing your music though it may not be as detailed as a traditional sheet music.

Tab is basically short form for tablature. Though originally used for writing down music for the guitar, it is gradually becoming popular for piano as well albeit slowly.

Beginner guitarists find tabs interesting because it gives them a clear picture of where to place their fingers on the fret-board. A sheet music on the other hand looks daunting to a beginner.

Piano tabs are getting increasingly popular primarily because lots of people find it easier to read tabs than to read the traditional sheet music.

It takes lot of time to become adept at reading traditional sheet music but it is much easier to play from tabs, though there are certain limitations to it.

Advantages – How to play Piano Tabs

Just to recap the benefits of knowing how to read piano tabs over the traditional style of notation.

•
• Easier to understand. One can pick up things faster from a tab.
• You don’t need access to any special software or manuscript. You can just scribble notes on a piece of paper.
• Easy to write notes, comments.
• If you use notepad to write music, the file size can get very small.
• More flexible. You don’t have to follow fixed standards as in traditional sheet music.

Disadvantages – How to play Piano Tabs

Are there any disadvantages? Of course there are.

• No substitute for traditional sheet music. If you are serious about music, you will have to learn to sight read.
• Doesn’t have universal acceptance. Connoisseurs will not vouch for it.
• Cannot provide detailed information about a song; though it is good to get a quick overview.
• Can get messy with lots of notes; depends on the writer.

Example – How to read Piano Tabs

To help you understand how to read piano tabs, let’s take an example. Let’s notate the first line of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. It would look something like this.

4|ccggaag-|ffeeddc-|ggffeed-|ggffedc-|
b|1-2-3-4-|1-2-3-4-|1-2-3-4-|1-2-3-4-|

So how do you read this?

The first line indicates the melody to be played and the second line indicates the beats(rhythm) of the song.
• The number at the beginning of the first line indicates the octave where you need to play the song. Here it tells you need to play in the fourth octave.
• The symbol “|” indicates a bar line. The various “|” indicates the different bars/measures in the song. This song has 4 beats in every bar.
• The letters indicate which notes you need to play. All the white keys are denoted by letters in small case. If the letter is in capital, it means you play the sharpened note. All the black keys need to be denoted as sharps – no flats!
• The second line denotes the timing for this song. This song has a 4/4 tempo. The “–” indicates “and” which is normally used while counting. So “1-2-3-4-” is same as “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”.

I hope the example mentioned above gives you a better understanding of tabs.

Free Piano Tabs

Now that you have a basic understanding of piano tabs, here are some sites where you could get access to free piano tabs.

I have listed some links where you can find free & easy piano tabs. I will keep on updating them as and when I find better ones. So please do come back to check out this section.

1. Tabnabber.com: Great site and has a very good repository. You can even find tools that convert guitar tablature to piano tablature.
2. pianotabs.net: Another great site with lots of materials to refer to.
3. Keyboard tablature: You can find lots of additional info here on Wikipedia.
4. Thetabworld.com: Another site with lots of tabs/resources!

Conclusion

You must have observed that knowing how to read tabs is definitely easier than sight reading the traditional way. But learning from a piano tab may not give you a very clear picture of all the elements (nuances) involved.

It will be helpful if you can listen to the song and then try to play it from a tab.

If you are using a computer to write tabs, use notepad; the file size will be much smaller. On a web browser, change your settings to small text size to get a better view of the tabs.

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KeytarHQ Editorial Team

KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.