TAB and Count Rows
How to Use This Guide
Section titled “How to Use This Guide”This sheet holds every mark and every count spelling that this course’s notation uses. Each has the one sentence that explains it and the session that teaches it: “from the beginner course”, or Session N. It is for looking up. The marks are grouped by where they stand: in a Count row, in a Strum or Pick row, in the rows under a block, in a TAB line, and on the lines above a chart or a TAB.
Each mark has one sentence in this course, and no word of it changes from one file to the next. This sheet prints all of them, each once, in the section of its mark. Many marks have an example, with the mark’s sentence directly under it. An example may also show marks whose sentences stand elsewhere on this sheet: look each up in the section of the row or line it stands in.
Every example is a copy of a block from a session. It stands under a bold line that names that session, with the pattern’s name after the colon, and it equals the session’s block character for character. Everything else on this sheet is a sentence or a table.
How to read a TAB from the beginning and how to read a chord diagram are not explained here. Both are in the beginner course’s guide, “TAB and Notation Quick Reference”, and chord diagrams are also in Chord Chart, under “How to Read This Chart”. Staff notation is taught only in the two staff-reading handouts, Reading Staff Notation 1 and Reading Staff Notation 2, and no staff is printed here. Marks this course never uses are not listed: no bend, no vibrato, no slide, no 12/8, no D.C., D.S. or coda sign, and no third ending.
A mark is not met in a piece before its session, and nothing on this sheet is practised from here.
The Count Row
Section titled “The Count Row”How each kind of count is written:
| What is counted | How it is written | First session |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter notes in 4/4 | 1 2 3 4 | from the beginner course |
| Eighth notes in 4/4 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | from the beginner course |
| 3/4 | 1 2 3; eighth notes 1 & 2 & 3 & | from the beginner course |
| Sixteenth notes | 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a | Session 8 |
| 2/4 | 1 2; 1 & 2 &; 1 e & a 2 e & a | Session 8 |
| Eighth-note triplets | 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let | Session 20 |
| Swung eighth notes | written as eighth notes, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, with the word Swing on the tempo line | Session 20 |
| 6/8 | 1 2 3 4 5 6; a sixteenth note between two counts takes & | Session 26 |
The marks in a Count row:
| Mark | Meaning | First session |
|---|---|---|
(2) round brackets | nothing new is played; the sound rings on | from the beginner course |
[2] square brackets | a rest: the sound is stopped | Session 3 |
e, a | the second and fourth sixteenth note of a beat | Session 8 |
(e), (&), (a) in a sixteenth-note row | a count inside the beat with nothing new on it: the sound rings on | Session 29 |
[e], [&], [a] in a sixteenth-note row | a rest inside the beat | Session 29 |
trip, let | the second and third part of a triplet beat | Session 20 |
Round and square brackets together, in one measure of 4/4. The & of 2 and the & of 3 stand in round brackets; count 4 and its & stand in square brackets.
Copy of Session 3: the Stop-Time pattern
Chord: E5 e|--------------------------------------| B|--------------------------------------| G|--------------------------------------| D|--------------------------------------| A|------2---2---2-------2---------------| E|------0---0---0-------0---------------| Count: 1 & 2 (&) 3 (&) [4] [&] Strum: D U D D PM: PM PM PM O
A count in round brackets, such as (2), is a count on which you play nothing new: keep counting and let the note or chord ring on.
A count in square brackets, such as [4], is a rest: stop the strings on that count and keep counting. The silence lasts through every count in square brackets after it.
A second example of round brackets: the D D U U D U pattern in this course’s wide form, whose & of 1 stands in round brackets.
Copy of Session 1: the D D U U D U pattern
Count: 1 (&) 2 & (3) & 4 & Strum: D D U U D U
The bracketed & is this course’s way of writing the same pattern you learned in the beginner course.
The counts e and a, in one measure of 4/4 in sixteenth notes:
Copy of Session 8: the plain sixteenth-note pattern
Count: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a Strum: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
1 e & a is one beat in four equal parts, the sixteenth notes. The number and the & stay where they are in eighth notes; e (say “ee”) comes between the number and the &, and a (say “uh”) comes between the & and the next number.
2/4 is counted as 4/4 is, with two beats to a measure.
The counts trip and let, in one measure of 4/4. The strokes fall on each number and on each let; under each trip the rows are blank.
Copy of Session 20: the swing figure
Chord: A5 e|------------------------------------------------------------------| B|------------------------------------------------------------------| G|------------------------------------------------------------------| D|------2---------2----2---------2----2---------2----2---------2----| A|------0---------0----0---------0----0---------0----0---------0----| E|------------------------------------------------------------------| Count: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let Strum: D U D U D U D U PM: PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM
1 trip let is one beat in three equal parts, the eighth-note triplet. The words trip and let are always printed: where the row under one of them is blank, nothing is played on it.
6/8 has six counts in a measure and two beats.
The six counts, in one measure of 6/8, with a downstroke on every count:
Copy of Session 26: the count with weight on counts 1 and 4
Count: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strum: D d d D d d Accent: > >
6/8 is counted 1 2 3 4 5 6, one count to each eighth note, in two groups of three: the strong counts are 1 and 4.
D = strong downstroke on counts 1 and 4, d = softer downstroke, > = accent (play that strum louder)
A Count row on its own, with no row under it, is a rhythm to clap (from Session 3). Here it is two measures of 4/4 in the triplet count, with a clap on every count:
Copy of Session 20: the clapped triplet count
The triplet count, clapped Count: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let | Count: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let |
Clap on every count that is written, and stay silent on a count in brackets. Say the count aloud as you clap, including the counts in brackets.
Which counts are printed:
- Every numbered count is printed.
- In a strum grid (a block of rows with no TAB lines), and in a riff, a study or a phrase written for this course, in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4, a measure drawn in eighth notes prints every &, and a measure drawn in sixteenth notes prints every e, & and a.
- A tune, a scale, a daily reading line of the Staff reading row and an unseen passage print an & only where a note falls on it.
- In 6/8 an & is printed only where a note or a stroke falls on it.
- In a triplet measure trip and let are always printed.
- The D D U U D U pattern as the beginner course prints it, with the Strum row above the Count row, prints no & after 1.
Where no & is written after a number, the note on that number lasts until the next number.
The Strum Row and the Pick Row
Section titled “The Strum Row and the Pick Row”The stroke rule is one rule in four sentences:
Down on the numbers, up on the &s. Your hand keeps swinging down-up even when it does not touch the strings.
In sixteenth notes your hand swings down and up twice in every beat: down on each number and on each &, up on each e and on each a.
In 6/8 every numbered count is a downstroke. An upstroke falls only on an & between two counts.
In swing your hand still goes down on each number and up on each &. Only the timing changes: the & comes late.
The marks in a Strum row:
| Mark | Meaning | From |
|---|---|---|
D, U | a downstroke and an upstroke; the four sentences of the stroke rule say where each falls | the beginner course |
d, u | a softer downstroke and a softer upstroke; explained in the key of the pattern that uses them | the beginner course |
(d), (u) | ghost strums | the beginner course |
chk | a muted strum; a second sentence says which hand holds the strings still: the strumming hand on an open chord, the fretting hand on a moveable shape | the beginner course |
The softer strokes d and u have no sentence of their own. Each is explained in the key of the pattern that uses it, printed under that pattern’s block. Two examples follow, each with its key directly under it. The key that names u stands only under a block that holds a u.
The waltz strum, in 3/4:
Copy of Beginner Session 7: the waltz strum
Strum: D d d Count: 1 2 3 Accent: >
D = strong downstroke on beat 1, d = softer downstroke on beats 2 and 3, > = accent (play that strum louder)
The 6/8 pattern, with a u between counts 2 and 3 and another between counts 5 and 6:
Copy of Session 26: the 6/8 pattern
Count: 1 2 & 3 4 5 & 6 Strum: D d u d D d u d Accent: > >
D = strong downstroke on counts 1 and 4, d = softer downstroke, u = softer upstroke, > = accent (play that strum louder)
The ghost strum (u) and the muted strum chk, in one measure of 4/4 as it is played on an open chord. The (u) falls on the & of 1 and the & of 3, and the chk on counts 2 and 4.
Copy of Beginner Session 13: the syncopated pattern with muted strums
Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & Strum: D (u) chk U D (u) chk U
(d) and (u) = ghost strums: barely touching the strings.
chk = a muted strum: a strum on strings that are being held still, so that you hear a dry “chk” and no note.
Here the strumming hand holds the strings still: the edge of the palm lands on the strings at the same moment as the pick goes through them, as in Beginner Session 13.
On a moveable shape the muted strum has two sentences of its own:
Here the fretting hand holds the strings still: keep the chord shape, relax your fretting fingers so they touch the strings without pressing, and strum the same three strings.
A chk is a stroke like any other: down or up as its count says.
No example is printed for it here: its patterns are three-string power-chord work, which has a daily limit. It is first used in Session 26; for a pattern that uses it, see Session 29.
The Pick row has one sentence:
Pick: D = a downstroke, U = an upstroke, on a single string.
The two rules for the direction of the pick stand under the staccato example in the next section.
Palm muting, the muted strum and the rest stop are three different things and are never used for each other:
| Name | What the hand does | How it is written | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm muting | the edge of the palm rests lightly on the strings just where they cross the saddle while the pick plays | PM in a PM row | Beginner Session 9 |
| Muted strum | the strings are held still (by the palm on open chords, by the relaxed fretting fingers on moveable shapes) and the pick strikes them | chk in the Strum row; x in a TAB | Beginner Sessions 13 and 20 |
| Rest stop | the edge of the palm is laid across the strings; the pick does not strike | the count in square brackets, [4] | Session 3 |
The Rows Under a Block
Section titled “The Rows Under a Block”The Chord row stands above, and the other rows of a block follow in this order: Count, Strum or Pick, Accent, Finger, Notes, PM, Dyn, Short; two blocks keep the beginner course’s order, with the Strum row above the Count row: the waltz strum, and the D D U U D U pattern as the beginner course prints it.
The rows, and the session in which each is first used:
| Row | First session |
|---|---|
Accent: | from the beginner course |
PM: | from the beginner course |
Finger: with numbers | from the beginner course |
Finger: with a dash | from the beginner course (Beginner Session 16) |
Finger: with the letters p i m a | from the beginner course (the letters as Beginner Session 15 gives them) |
Finger: with letters together | Session 11 |
Pick: | from the beginner course |
Notes: | from the beginner course |
Dyn: | Session 10 |
Short: | Session 22 |
The Accent row has one sentence:
> = accent: play that strum louder.
Its example is the waltz strum in the section above, whose block has an Accent row.
PM = palm muted. O = let the string ring (palm lifted).
The Finger row has four sentences, with one example for letters written together:
In the Finger row, a number is a finger of the fretting hand: 1 (index), 2 (middle), 3 (ring), 4 (little finger).
In the Finger row, a dash means an open string.
In the Finger row, the letters are the fingers of the picking hand: p (thumb), i (index), m (middle), a (ring).
Letters written together, in three measures of 4/4 on open strings: im in measure 1, ma in measure 2 and pm in measure 3.
Copy of Session 11: two strings plucked together
e|----------------------|---0---0---0---0---|-------------------| B|------0---0---0---0---|---0---0---0---0---|---0---0---0---0---| G|------0---0---0---0---|-------------------|-------------------| D|----------------------|-------------------|---0---0---0---0---| A|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| E|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Finger: im im im im ma ma ma ma pm pm pm pm
Letters written together in the Finger row, such as im or pm, are plucked at the same moment. The letters keep the order p i m a.
The Notes row names the note above it.
The Dyn row, in eight measures of 4/4 on Em. The marks p and cresc. stand under counts 1 and 2 of measure 1, and f and dim. under counts 1 and 2 of measure 5. The row is printed only under a line of the block in which a mark stands.
Copy of Session 10: the crescendo strum
Chord: Em Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U | Dyn: p cresc. Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U | Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U | Dyn: f dim. Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U |
The Dyn row shows how loud to play: p = soft, mf = medium, f = loud, cresc. = get gradually louder from here, dim. = get gradually softer from here. Each mark stands under the count where it begins; cresc. and dim. last until the next mark in the row, also when the TAB or pattern goes on to a new line, or to the end of the TAB or pattern.
The Short row, the Pick row and finger numbers, in three measures of 4/4. Every note but the last has a dot in the Short row; the last note has none and lasts through count 4, which stands in round brackets.
Copy of Session 22: staccato
e|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| B|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| G|----------------------|---5---7---5-------|-------------------| D|--------------5---7---|---------------7---|---5---------------| A|------5---7-----------|-------------------|-------7---5-------| E|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 (4) Pick: D U D U D U D U D U D Finger: 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 Short: . . . . . . . . . .
A dot in the Short row means that the note or chord above it is played short (staccato): play it, then stop its sound straight away. A note with no dot rings for its full length.
To cut a fretted note short, pick it and at once relax the finger that holds it, so that the finger still touches the string but no longer presses it down. Do not lift the finger off the string. A strummed chord marked short is stopped with the rest stop.
In a scale or an arpeggio the pick alternates on every note, down then up, whatever the count: in quarter notes an upstroke falls on counts 2 and 4. In a tune the pick follows the count: down on the numbers, up on the &s.
This drill is a scale run, so its pick alternates.
Some letters have more than one meaning. The row or line a letter stands in says which:
| Letter | Where it stands | Meaning there |
|---|---|---|
p | in a TAB line, between two fret numbers | a pull-off |
p | in a Finger row | the thumb |
p | in a Dyn row | soft |
a | in a Finger row | the ring finger |
a | in a Count row | a count |
e | at the left of a TAB | string 1 |
e | in a Count row | a count |
m | in a Finger row | the middle finger |
m | after a chord letter, as in Am | minor |
dim. | in a Dyn row | a mark of that row: get gradually softer from here |
dim | in a chord name, as in Bdim | part of the chord’s name, not a mark |
Marks in a TAB Line
Section titled “Marks in a TAB Line”The marks that stand in the TAB lines themselves:
| Mark | What it tells you | First session |
|---|---|---|
| a number | The fret to play on that string; 0 is the open string. | from the beginner course |
| two numbers one above the other | The two notes are played together. | from the beginner course |
h and p between two fret numbers | A hammer-on (h) and a pull-off (p): a note under a slur has no stroke in the Pick row. | with an open string: from the beginner course; between two fretted notes: Session 23 |
x | A muted strum, in the power-chord riff pattern. | Beginner Session 20 |
| a pick-up measure before measure 1 | The notes before the first bar line are a pick-up: lead-in notes that come before the first full measure. | from the beginner course |
x = a muted strum on the three strings of the chord, written chk in the Strum row: keep the chord shape, relax your fretting fingers so they touch the strings without pressing, and strum the same three strings for a dry “chk”. The chk on 2 and 4 is a downstroke; the chk on an & is an upstroke.
The hammered note should be clearly audible. On an acoustic guitar it will be a little quieter than a picked note, and that is correct. If it is faint, make the tap quicker and land closer to the fret.
In a TAB with a Capo line the frets are counted from the capo: 0 is the string as the capo stops it, and 2 is two frets above the capo.
A TAB with a Capo line has no Notes row, because the row would name the notes of the shapes and not the notes that sound.
The Lines Above a Chart or a TAB
Section titled “The Lines Above a Chart or a TAB”The tempo line says what the metronome clicks. It has one of these wordings, with the figure shown here as N:
| Used for | The words of the tempo line |
|---|---|
| Downstrokes | N BPM, one strum per click |
| Single notes | N BPM, one note per click (quarter notes); N BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes); in 3/4 with in 3/4 after BPM |
| D D U U D U | N BPM, D D U U D U pattern |
| The down-up strum | N BPM, strumming D/U (down on the click, up between clicks) |
| The waltz strum | N BPM in 3/4, one strum per click |
| Palm-muted eighth notes | N BPM, two strums per click (eighth notes), down-up |
| One strum to a measure | a new chord every 4 beats at N BPM |
| One strum every two beats | a new chord every 2 beats at N BPM |
| A pattern, a picked melody or a whole piece of mixed note values with the click on the beat (the Stop-Time pattern and the pushed pattern; the melodies of “Amazing Grace” and “Down by the Salley Gardens”; measures 1 to 16 of Giuliani’s Andantino, and its performance tempo) | N BPM, the click on the beat; in 3/4 with in 3/4 after BPM |
| Sixteenth notes, first form | N BPM, the metronome set to 2N and clicking eighth notes (two strums per click), where 2N is twice the figure and both are written as numbers |
| Sixteenth notes, second form | N BPM, four strums per click (sixteenth notes) |
| Swing | N BPM, Swing, two strums per click (swung eighth notes) |
| The clapped triplet count | N BPM, three claps per click (eighth-note triplets) |
| 6/8, first form | Metronome at N, clicking eighth notes (one count per click) |
| 6/8, second form | Metronome at N, two clicks to the measure (three counts per click) |
| Two strings plucked together (the drill, which is in 4/4 and has a pair on every click; not said of a piece) | N BPM, one pair per click |
A 6/8 tempo line begins “Metronome at” and never says BPM: the beat of 6/8 is three counts long, and the figure on the metronome is clicks, not beats.
Swing on a tempo line means that every pair of eighth notes is played long then short: the note on the number comes on 1 of 1 trip let, and the note on the & comes on let. The Count row is still written 1 & 2 &.
Four strums per click at 50 is exactly as fast as two strums per click at 100.
Three counts per click at 30 is exactly as fast as one count per click at 90.
In a chart the time signature stands on the Key and Time line, after the key. The label is “Time”, and the line has one of four wordings:
| Time signature | The words of the line |
|---|---|
| 4/4 | Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure) |
| 3/4 | Time: 3/4 (three beats in a measure) |
| 2/4 | Time: 2/4 (two beats in a measure) |
| 6/8 | Time: 6/8 (six counts in a measure) |
The Capo line stands under the title of a chart that is played with a capo, from Session 9:
A line such as Capo: fret 2 means: put the capo at fret 2 before you play. The chord names in the chart are the names of the shapes you finger; the Key line says what they sound as.
Two chord names in one box of a chart share that measure: in 4/4 each lasts two beats, as in the beginner course.
A Beats row under such a box gives the counts of each chord: 12 under the first chord and 34 under the second. A Measure row above a line of boxes gives the number of each measure.
Where a measure of 6/8 holds two chords, the second begins on count 4: play counts 1 to 3 of the pattern on the first chord and counts 4 to 6 on the second.
A chord name over the count “a” means that the chord arrives early: change to it for that upstroke and let it ring through the beat that follows.
Repeat signs and endings are explained in these sentences:
|: opens a repeated passage and :| closes it. The first time you reach :| go back to |: and play the passage once more; the second time, go on.
1. marks the first ending and 2. the second. The first time through, play the first ending and go back to |:. The second time, leave the first ending out and go straight to 2.
An ending runs from its number to the next repeat sign, or to the end of the chart where no repeat sign follows.
No chart with a repeat sign or an ending is printed on this sheet: in this course the signs appear only in the sessions and the handout that teach them, and in the unseen charts of the assessments. The repeat signs are taught in Session 2 and the endings in Session 5, and both are in Reading A Chord Chart, under “Repeat Signs” and “First and Second Endings”.
The heading of a section with a repeat gives its length both ways: “8 measures, 14 as played”. An unseen chart gives its written length only: “8 measures as written”.