Tablature

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A method of writing music that shows which strings and frets to play rather than standard notes ; a written diagram of fingerings used to teach or record music for guitar and similar instruments
2. A notation system that indicates the positions to press on an instrument's strings or frets ; a chart of such positions set out to guide a player through a piece of music
3. Symbolic musical script that marks where to place fingers on a fretted or stringed instrument ; the printed sheet or diagram that records these instructions for players

Etymology: The word traces back to the Latin "tabula," meaning a board or plank, and its earliest sense was literally about wooden boards. Latin "tabulatura" carried the idea of a flooring made of planks, and Italian later adapted the form as "tavolatura." When it passed into French, the word narrowed toward the notation of music, and a set of written instructions showing which keys or frets to press on an instrument came to be called by this name. That shift from a physical board to a system of symbols is the heart of the story. A musician reading tablature is looking at a grid of lines, each representing a string or fret, with numbers or letters placed where the fingers should go. The notation does not record pitch in the way standard staff notation does; it tells the player where to put their hands. The idea of a flat surface on which something is laid out clearly carried over from the original board to the written page.

Synonyms: tab, notation