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View Full Version : Tablature: Why is it upside down?



Jubal
02-04-2017, 05:31 AM
Tablature was developed to help guitarists learn how to play pieces, especially up and down the fretboard. Why is it upside down? Seriously, when you are playing guitar, standard tuning from top to bottom is E-A-D-G-B-E. It would be logical to arrange the strings for tab that way. Was the person who developed it dyslexic?
Maybe I'm not looking at it the right way.
Can someone please help me understand why it is set up E-B-G-D-A-E (from top to bottom)?

hFx
02-04-2017, 09:20 AM
Place a tab sheet on top of the fret board and you find the strings corresponds. When you look at the fretboard of the guitar in your lap, twisting it to see the fretboard and strings, the low E is towards you, corresponding to the bottom string on the sheet. I find it quite logical! :)

Progbear
02-16-2017, 08:23 PM
As someone who studied classical guitar for some years, I hate tablature. Just give me sheet music, maybe with some fingering notation.

Jubal
02-21-2017, 08:23 AM
Place a tab sheet on top of the fret board and you find the strings corresponds. When you look at the fretboard of the guitar in your lap, twisting it to see the fretboard and strings, the low E is towards you, corresponding to the bottom string on the sheet. I find it quite logical! :)

Nope. If you turn a tab upside down, the strings correspond, but the notes are shown in reverse order.

100423
02-21-2017, 10:14 AM
TAB is written that way because the 6th string E is the lowest sounding string, therefore it is the bottom line of the TAB staff, just like the lower a note sounds, the lower it is written on a staff in standard notation. Not perfect, but functional once you get used to it.



As someone who studied classical guitar for some years, I hate tablature. Just give me sheet music, maybe with some fingering notation.

While I agree that regular manuscript might be superior, I think generally TAB is easier to get people started on guitar and ease them into learning standard notation. You might be surprised on how many kids these days haven't had any music education in school and don't even understand the basics of the musical alphabet.

hFx
02-21-2017, 10:32 AM
Nope. If you turn a tab upside down, the strings correspond, but the notes are shown in reverse order.

OK, the pic below represents my logic for the tab-fret relation. From playing position to "watch fretboard"(guitar in lap), tab in front of me --->

---> http://i68.tinypic.com/amv48l.jpg

hFx
02-21-2017, 10:41 AM
As someone who studied classical guitar for some years, I hate tablature. Just give me sheet music, maybe with some fingering notation.

As someone who studied both classical and jazz, I regularly jot down the corresponding chords above the (fingering) notation when figuring out a new piece. That's very helpful to me, especially when returning to a piece some time later, to quickly find my way back.