Looking Up Tabs (The SMART Way)

Today I wanted to cover a major topic that I go over with ALL of my clients.  That is how to look up tabs.  As simple as it may sound, it’s actually a little harder than you’d think to find a GOOD tab.  You see, tab sites are like wikipedia.  Although there is a lot of good information being posted, it is still unofficial and done mostly by non-experts.  Well, allow me to help you carve through the rubbish and find a winner!

 

First of all, I only use ultimate-guitar.com  It is by far the best tab site out there today.  First of all, it has a vast amount of songs.  Second of all, once you learn how to navigate the site, it is easy to narrow down a good tab!  Here’s how: 

Step 1:  Type your song into the search bar

Step 2:  Scroll through the different versions until you find one that has 5 stars.  This is huge!  These 5 stars are done by other guitar players (think yelp) and help you to quickly wade through the other crap out there!

Step 3:  If there is more than one 5 star rated tab, choose the one with the most ratings.  That number will be listed next to the rating. 

That’s it!  You’re done!

Now, if you can’t find a tab with 5 stars, look for one with 4 stars and acknowledge the fact that there will be flaws and LOOK for them.  If a note or a chord sounds… “off,” it probably is. 

 

One last thing.  If you can, download Guitar Pro software.  I believe it costs around $30 and is AMAZING.  It will be accurate and usually will have ALL instruments note for note.  By far one of the best investments I have ever made as a guitar player (2nd to only my guitar haha). 

 

Hope this helps!  Happy shredding!

 

Your favorite guitar instructor,

Drew

714.955.3278

 

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