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Free lessons + ebook · 5 lessons · 8-page ebook · PDF

Read any guitar tab, and play the songs you actually want to play.

Tab is the fastest way from a song you love to your own fingers, once the symbols make sense. In five free video lessons Marty takes you from the six lines and the fret numbers to hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, slides, harmonics and tapping. Then six of his own licks, written in tab, give you something real to read.

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5 lessons · 8-page ebook · PDFFree, and yours to keep

The lessons, in order

  1. Lesson 1

    Ultimate Tab Guide Introduction: What Tabs Are and Aren't

    Marty Schwartz · 2 min

  2. Lesson 2

    How to Read Guitar Tab: Strings, Lines and Fret Numbers

    Marty Schwartz · 5 min

  3. Lesson 3

    Reading Tab: Hammer-Ons, Pull-Offs, Trills, Vibrato and Bends

    Marty Schwartz · 5 min

  4. Lesson 4

    Reading Tab: Bend and Release, Bend with Vibrato and Unison Bends

    Marty Schwartz · 3 min

  5. Lesson 5

    Reading Tab: Slides, Natural Harmonics and Tapping

    Marty Schwartz · 2 min

What you will learn in this free ebook

  • How to read the tab, every symbol, and how to bend in tunepage 2
  • Lick 1: a four-note pattern on the top three stringspage 3
  • Lick 2: a chromatic run up and downpage 4
  • Lick 3: slides up the neck, and lick 4: a climb from the A string, with bendspages 5–6
  • Lick 5: slides and pull-offs across all six stringspage 7
  • Lick 6: up the neck and back the same waypage 8

Who wrote it

Marty Schwartz

Blues, rock and beginner guitar

One of the best-known guitar teachers on YouTube. Marty teaches more than 30 of our courses: first chords, strumming, blues licks and soloing, with a lot of fun along the way.

Lessons and licks by Marty Schwartz.

Questions

Is it really free?

Yes. The five lessons and the ebook cost nothing and there is no card to enter. The ebook is yours to keep: read it on screen, save it or print it.

Do I need to read music?

No. Tab is the alternative to reading music: it shows you which string and which fret, and the symbols for how to play the note. That is all these lessons teach.

Is it for beginners?

Yes. The first lesson starts with what tab is and the six open strings. If you already read tab, the lessons on bends, slides and harmonics fill in the symbols most players never learned.

Is it for acoustic or electric?

Both. Tab is the same on any guitar. Only tapping and the big bends are easier on an electric.

Free tab guide: how to read guitar tab

5 lessons · 8-page ebook · PDF. Free, no card, and yours to keep.

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