Instead these are often just used for a bit of separation between parts. Since tab can’t show timing, it’s sometimes hard to place these precisely enough to stand in for traditional measure lines. Oftentimes it’s nice to break a tab into pieces via vertical bar lines like this: A |-|-| Or you could show three notes played simultaneously: A |-| If there are more than one fret number in a vertical line, play the notes simultaneously. Ukulele Hunt also has one with some pictures and audio examples. Still having trouble getting oriented? There’s a nice guide on the basics of how to read tab over at Ukulele Go. Here’s a C major scale in reverse: A |-3-2-0-| This means pick the 3rd fret, E-string two times: A |-| If you want to show two notes picked in a row you would repeat the fret number. Here you would play the 3rd fret, E-string once and then the 5th fret, A-string once: A |-5-| This next tab tells you to play the 10th fret on the C-string one time: A |-| The tab below tells you to pick the 3rd fret on the A-string one time: A |-3-| Anytime you see a number it means “pick this fret.” Which string line the number is one tells you what string to play the fret on. If you hold the tab on top of the fretboard in this way, the strings will match. To visualize it better, imagine you set your ukulele down flat on a table, strings facing up and headstock to your left.

The G-string is on the bottom and the A-string is on the top. The four horizontal lines on a bar of tab represent the four strings of an ukulele. How to Read Ukulele Tabs: Understanding the System To make things easy on yourself, employ the “hum it” rule: if you can hum the tune then you can learn from the tab, if not, don’t try. If you don’t know the song it’s going to be frustrating to try and learn it this way. So while you can play a piece you’ve never heard before by looking at piano sheet music, you can’t do the same with tab. The disadvantage to reading music via tab is that you cannot express timing values with it. Here’s a complete guide on how to read tabs for the ukulele.ĭue to its simple nature, learning how to read ukulele tab is very straightforward and once you get the concept you can progress quickly. Ukulele tablature (also known as “tab”) is an easy and fast way to write out songs for stringed instruments.

How to use power tab for ukulele