Topic: Bass Tabs

I am a new subscriber and I am very interested in the tabs. I am playing bass after playing rhythem guitar for 30 years and I would like to learn about "tabs" as I know nothing about them.  If anyone out there has the patients to explain them, I would be very grateful.

Re: Bass Tabs

so you don't even really know what they are? well i play acoustic guitar and it might be different from bass but i will tell you what i know.  so the tab chart has a certain number of lines, each one representing a string (so i guess since there is six on guitar there should be four on bass).  usually the higher notes are the TOP strings of the chart, but check the side of it to make sure (they might have the strings labeled).  if you see a zero, that means it is an open note. if there is a 2, that means its the second fret.  a 4 would mean the 4th fret and so on.  each number should be on a certain string so you know which note to play.  if the numbers are evenly spaced apart (even if the line isn't straight, witch it probably wont be cuz that would mean everything was on one string) that indicates picking, but if the notes are on top of one another that means you have to either play them at the same time or strum them together(wich i am not sure you do to often on base).  sometimes you will see little hyphons or slashes in between the notes. i am not sure what they mean, but i think a slash means that you slide to the next note and if it has an "h" next to it it means hammer-on to the next note.i also no that b means bend the string. I hope that wasn't to confusing! I hope it helped you! i dont know if its possible, but you could reply back if you didn't understand something!(i think we could use private message or you could just hit reply) <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">