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* ''1 2 3 4'' - Tab does not have any formal rhythm notation. Usually, the spacing between the fret numbers attempts to indicate a rough sense of timing; but often this is not good enough. Numbers above the tab usually indicate the beat, allowing you to line up notes to each beat.
* ''1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n'' - Same as above but includes the "ands" (8th notes in 4/4) between beats.
* ''1 u n u 2 u n u'' - Same as above but 4 notes per beat (16th notes in 4/4).
* ''w h q e s'' - stands for whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes. An alternative or additional method of marking rhythm.
* ''--3--'' - indicates the notes should be played as a triplet (odd number of notes per beat).
* ''d u'' or ''v ^'' - Indicates whether the given note should be played with a downstroke or upstroke.
* ''A B C D'' or ''a b c d'' - The classical name of the note being played. This helps to associate fret/string pairs with their note names. It may also be essential to know which harmonic order of an artificial harmonic to use.
* ''pm'', ''p'', or ''*'' - palm mute
* ''i m r p t'' - Stands for index, middle, ring, pinky, and thumb - indicates which finger to use to play the given note.
* roman numerals - Indicates the scale index of the root note of the current chord for harmonic analysis.
* x/y - .
|-
| measure numbers || In formal sheet music, the measures are often numbered, simply ascending as they occur (1 2 3 ... n). Tab found on the internet rarely includes numbered measures; however, it is more likely to be found in professional tab books.
→Common Annotations
== Common Annotations ==
Tab is often a bit limited in and of itself, using annotations above or below the tab to attempt to augment what can be written in the actual tab.
{|class="wikitable"
| ''1 2 3 4'' || Tab does not have any formal rhythm notation. Usually, the spacing between the fret numbers attempts to indicate a rough sense of timing; but often this is not good enough. Numbers above the tab usually indicate the beat, allowing you to line up notes to each beat.
|-
| ''1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n''||Same as above but includes the "ands" (8th notes in 4/4) between beats.
|-
| x/y || Indicates a change of time signature to x/y
|-
| measure numbers || In formal sheet music, the measures are often numbered, simply ascending as they occur (1 2 3 ... n). Tab found on the internet rarely includes numbered measures; however, it is more likely to be found in professional tab books.
|}