Trade Policy: How to read My Tabs (It can also be found My Sheets) My tabs are designed for people who like to play the guitar and sing – regardless of whether you can or cannot read music. If you can read music and is fed up with 4-5 pages of music sheets to sing a song, then my tabs are for you because they are usually only a page in length. If you cannot read music, then my tabs are also for you because:- 1. the words and chords are transposed from music sheets and are therefore correct. 2. they include bars and timings to help with your playing and singing. Ok, lets take the first 2 lines of Cry Me A River by Arthur Hamilton to illustrate. Am F Am6 Am7 | Now ww w^you^say^youre | ^lone ly y yy yy | Dm7 Em G7 CM7 Bm7 E7 | ~ you^cry^the whole night | thru uu u^well^you^can | Em7 A7 D7 | Cry (y^me^a) ^Ri ver r | ~^Cry (y^me^a) Riv^er rr | Unless specified the default of the timing is always 4-4. (My knowledge of music is derived from an hour’s reading of the basics on the net, so have no fear dear illiterates) It just means that each bar must have 4 notes. Let’s take the first bar … | Now ww w^you^say^youre | Each note is represented by a word or double letter. Thus “Now” is a note and “ww” is another note. A single letter is ½ note. (Unless it is an “A” or “I”, etc.) The symbol “^” joins (or denotes) ½ notes. So, “w^you^say^youre” is made up of four ½ notes. Total = 4 notes Let’s take the second bar | ^lone ly y yy yy | and count … ^lone = ½ , ly = 1 , y = ½ , yy = 1, and yy = 1. Total = 4 notes. Now, let’s take the last bar | ~ ^Cry (y^me^a) Riv^er rr | “~” = ½ beat ( or ½ voiceless note) (y^me^a) is three ½ notes contained in a bracket = 1 note. (Don’t ask, it’s a music thingy) So, let’s count again… “~” = ½, “^Cry”= ½, (y^me^a)= 1, Riv^er = 1, rr= 1 Total = 4 notes Go back to the first bar and note that the “ww w^ “ is the same note as “Now”. It means that “Now” stretches for 2½ notes when singing. Likewise, “ly” in the second bar stretches for 3½ notes. Now, let’s look at the first line from Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word by Elton John. Dm F Gm7 | / (What=have=I)^got=to do^to make^you=love | e^me e ~ / / | “ / ” = 1 beat “ = “ joins (or denotes) ¼ notes. Thus, in the first bar, we have …… “ / “ = 1 beat (voiceless note) (What=have=I)^got=to totals 1 note because (What=have=I) is three ¼ notes contained in a bracket = ½ note and “got=to” totals another ½ note. Join them up with “ ^ ” and what we’ve got for all that is only one note. If we carry on with the rest of the first bar, we’ve got… “ do^to “ = 1 note “ make^you=love “ = 1 note (n/b “you=love” only equal ½ note plus ½ note for “make” ) Total = 4 notes. So, when playing, please note that the chord “Dm” has 3 beats and “F” has only 1 beat. Finally, let’s take a look at the first line of the chorus…. Bb A | ~ Its=sa a=d d # its=so=sa dd | F Bm7 | ~ Its=a sad^sad sit^u=a a=ti^on | “ # “ = ¼ beat (voiceless note). The total notes in the first bar are thus… “ ~ “ = ½ beat (or voiceless note) “Its=sa” = ½ note “ a=d “ = ½ note “d” = ½ note “#” = ¼ beat (voiceless note) “its=so=sa” = ¾ note “dd” = 1 note Total = 4 notes. I have already indicated that when a note is stretched, I repeat the last letter of the word as in ^lone ly y yy yy. Likewise, when the notes are different within a word, I would try and split the letters up to indicate as such. Observe the words of the first bar again and notice for example that the last word (sad) is written =sa dd. It’s because it has 2 different notes, one of a ¼ beat and the other of 1 beat. PLAY, SING AND ENJOY. Jerry Neoh

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