Tablature

Tablature (or tabs for short) is a way of notating music in a way that is easy to understand and easy to notate in digital form. Tablature is most common for guitar, bass (guitar), and drums, though tablature may exist for other instruments. One advantage of tablature is that it does not require the reader to be able to read standard music notation. There are, however, some pitfalls to tablature notation. For guitar, it doesn't usually show the rhythm or fingering of the song. So in order to be able to play a piece of music from tablature, it is essential to have heard the song before and be reasonably familiar with it.

Notation

Tablature is written on lined paper similar to normal music paper (called a music staff). For guitar, each line corresponds to a string; thus there are 6 lines (4 for bass). Numbers are used to indicate which string to pick and which fret to stop. For example:

e|-0---0---0---0---------
B|-----------------------
G|-----------------------
D|-----------------------
A|-----------------------
E|-----------------------

Means you pluck the top E string 4 times on the open string.

Tablature by Instrument

External Links

911Tabs The best collection of guitar tablature and chords.
Ultimate Guitar An extensive collection of guitar and bass tablature.
Tab Wiki
DrumTabs.org - Explanation of drumtabs, examples, history, and drum tab resources.
A.d.a.m. Tablature for Recorder, Flute, Guitar, Keyboard, Saxophone, Clarinet - a.d.a.m. method, on-line lessons, Christmas songs, melodies, Start to play the easiest way
How To Read Guitar Tabs