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The lines are arranged as if looking at the strings from the top of your instrument while holding it in playing position. The top line represents the string with the highest pitch and the bottom lines represent the bass strings.
Mandolin tablature has 4 lines because there are 4 strings (or pairs of strings) on a mandolin.
E —3—2—0————————————————————————— A ———————5—3—2—0————————————————— D ———————————————5—4—2—0————————— G ———————————————————————5—4—2—0—
Banjo tablature has 5 lines because there are 5 strings on a banjo. Of course banjos are tuned funny so the bottom line is actually the highest pitched string.
D —————0———0—————0——————————————— B ———0———————1——————————————————— G —0———————————0————————————————— D ——————————————————————————————— G ———————0———————————————————————
Guitar and Dobro tablature both have 6 lines because those are 6-string instruments.
Guitar Dobro
E ——————————————— D ———————————————
B ——————————————— B ———————————————
G ——————————————— G ———————————————
D ——————————————— D ———————————————
A ——————————————— B ———————————————
E ——————————————— G ———————————————
Below is an mandolin example that shows the first string open and then the 2nd string at the 4th fret.
E —0————————————————————————————— A ———4——————————————————————————— D ——————————————————————————————— G ———————————————————————————————
And here's the first part of Yankee Doodle in the key of D.
E ——————————————————————————————— A ——————————————————————————————— D —0—0—2—4—0—4—2———0—0—2—4—0————— G —————————————————————————————6—
Specical playing techniques can also be shown in tablature with letters and symbols.
E —0h2——————————————————————————————————————— A ——————————————3p2———————2/4———————12*—————— D ——————————————————————————————————————————— G ——————————————————————————————————————————— Hammer-on Pull-off Slide Harmonic
The tablature in these lessons will also have stems and bars because they are written in a special format. These indicate the syncopations of notes in the tablatue, just like in standard notation. The tablature in these lessons will be .jpg files and look very professional. Another way to show tablature is with ASCII characters. This type of tablature downloads quicker because is doesn't use the larger picture format. In fact, the tablature on this page is actually ASCII. To show stems and bars in ASCII tab, you might do something like this......
E |————————————————|—————————————————|
A |————————————————|—————————————————|
D |—0—0—2—4—0—4—2——|—0—0—2—4—0———————|
G |————————————————|—————————————6———|
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