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Sep 20, 2023 · The term tab is a versatile slang term that can have multiple meanings depending on the context. It can refer to acid (LSD), cigarettes in Newcastle Upon Tyne, an open order of items to be paid for later, such as drinks ordered from a bar, or an abbreviation for tablature, which is the chords and riffs for playing a song written out for guitar or bass.
- Top 30 Slang For Guitar – Meaning & Usage - FluentSlang
A guitar teacher might advise a beginner, “Start by...
- Top 30 Slang For Guitar – Meaning & Usage - FluentSlang
- Six-String. This term refers to a guitar that has six strings, which is the standard number of strings for most guitars. It is often used to differentiate from guitars with more or fewer strings.
- Axe (Or Ax) This slang term is used to refer to a guitar. It is derived from the resemblance of a guitar to an axe, a cutting tool with a long handle and a sharp blade.
- Jazz Box. This term is used to describe a specific type of guitar, namely a hollow-body jazz guitar. It is known for its warm and mellow tone, making it popular in jazz music.
- Frankenstein. This term is used to describe a guitar that has been heavily customized or modified, often resulting in a unique and unconventional appearance.
- Guitar Terms – A
- Guitar Terms – B
- Guitar Terms – C
- Guitar Terms – D
- Guitar Terms – E
- Guitar Terms – F
- Guitar Terms – G
- Guitar Terms – H
- Guitar Terms – I
- Guitar Terms – J
Accent
An accenton guitar is when you emphasize a specific note or chord to make it stand out by picking or strumming it harder. An accent symbol of < in sheet music means to emphasize that note or chord. A common way to use accents is to emphasize the beat. Picking or strumming each note or chord that falls on the beat helps build a rhythmic pulse to your music.
Accidental
An accidentalis a symbol used in sheet music to indicate a change in a note as sharp, flat, or natural. As an example, a sharp symbol (#) next to the note C would mean to play the note C#.
Action
Guitar action or action heightis the distance between a guitar’s frets and the strings. Action height plays a major role in how comfortable a guitar feels to play. The below photo shows the difference between a guitar with low action (left) and high action (right). Guitarists tend to prefer low action for better comfort. Find out everything you need to know about action height and how to adjust it in this guide.
Barre Chord
A guitar barre chord is a type of chord where you flatten your index finger across the fretboard to form chord shapes higher up the neck. Barre chords are moveable shapes, which means you can re-use the same shape all over the fretboard to form many different chords. Barre chords are sometimes called bar chords or barred chords.
Bass
A bass or bass guitaris a different type of instrument that has a lower sound than a typical guitar. While there is a big overlap in technique and gear between bass and guitar, they are two different instruments. If you are interested in learning to play bass, check out these simple bass exercises.
Bass Clef
A Bass Clef or F Clefis the symbol used in sheet music for low range instruments such as bass guitar. Guitar tends to use a Treble Clef or G Clef but may use a Bass Clef for low-tuned guitars. Find out more about these symbols in my guide on how to read Standard Notation.
Capo
A capois a small device that clamps onto your guitar neck and presses against the strings. Placing a capo on your guitar allows you to play chords and riffs in a higher position. Capos are often used to change a song to fit with a singer’s vocal range. They can also be used to use open chord shapes anywhere on the fretboard. There are many different types of capos, so find out everything you want to know about capos in this guide.
Chord
A guitar chord is when you play three or more notes at the same time. There are many different types of chords and each type creates a different type of sound.
Chord Diagram
A chord diagramis a visual way of writing how to play a guitar chord. Chord diagrams are an easy way to learn how to play a large number of chords and are found in sheet music. As an example, the below chord diagram shows how to play the open chord G Major. Learn how to read chord diagrams in this guide.
DAW
A DAW or Digital Audio Workstation is a piece of software used for recording and mixing musical instruments. Software such as Pro Tools, Cubase, Studio One, FL Studio, Garage Band, and Reaper are all popular DAWs. Any DAW is an incredibly powerful piece of software you can use to record full songs when paired with an audio interface. Find out everything you would want to know about DAWs in this guide.
Delay
Delayis a type of guitar effect where your guitar signal is repeated in various ways. Delay is often mistaken for echo, which sounds similar, but is created in a very different way. Delay is possibly the most popular guitar effect with both acoustic and electric guitarists. The below photo shows an example of the different types of delays available in many guitar pedals. Find out everything you would want to know about delay pedals in this guide.
Diatonic
Diatonic is the term for when you play entirely within a standard scale. If a song is in the key of G and you only play the notes in the G Major scale, you are playing diatonic.
Ear Training
Ear Trainingis the practice of training your ears to identify notes, intervals, chords, and scales. By working through drills and exercises, you can improve your aural skills to the point where you can learn to play music completely by ear. Find out more about Ear Training in this guide.
Economy Picking
Economy picking is a picking style that is based on alternate picking. The picking direction follows the direction you move across the strings. When playing repeated notes on one string, you play alternate picking. Then when you change to a different string, the direction you pick depends on which string you’re moving to. For example, if you’re changing from the 2nd string (B) to the 1st string (E), you would play a down pick. If you’re moving in the opposite direction, you would play an up p...
Effects Pedal
An effects pedal or stompboxis a device you place on the floor that can change your guitar tone. There are many different types of effects pedals and each type can dramatically change your guitar tone. Guitar pedals can come in many different shapes and sizes. Pedals can be connected together to form a chain of effects as shown below. Learn about every type of guitar effect pedal, how they work, and how to use them in my comprehensive Guitar Effects Course.
Fanned Frets
A guitar with fanned fretshave frets that aren’t parallel to each other. Instead, the frets fan out across the fretboard. Guitars with fanned frets are also called multi-scale guitars. Guitars with fanned frets are played in the same way as normal guitar frets. The only difference is with how they feel and sound. Find out all about fanned frets in this guide.
Filter Pedals
Filter pedalsare a range of guitar effects that include auto-wahs and envelope filters. These effects apply a filter on the guitar signal and can completely change the guitar tone.
Fingerstyle
Playing fingerstyleis when you play without a pick. Guitarists who play fingerstyle tend to play a lot of arpeggios and pluck multiple strings at the same time that wouldn’t be possible with a pick.
Ghost-Note
A ghost note is a muted note played by lightly resting your fretting hand against the strings. They are notated by an ‘x’ in Guitar TAB. Ghost notes can be played on a single string or across multiple strings.
Gig
A gigis a live performance or concert. Musicians use the term gig in the same way as the term job. While people going to concerts can also refer to it as a gig, although it isn’t a job for them.
Grace Note
A grace noteis when you play a short or soft note immediately before another note. These notes aren’t part of the melody, but they add character or expression to the main notes in the melody.
Half Step
A half-step or half-tone, or semitoneis one fret distance on guitar.
Hammer-on
A hammer-onis a type of guitar technique where you pick the first note, then press your finger onto a higher note on the same string without picking the string again. A hammer-on is a type of legato technique.
Harmony
Harmonyis when you play more than one note at a time. If one guitarist plays a melody and another guitarist plays the same or a similar melody, they are playing in harmony. There are many ways you can create a harmony and there can be more than one harmony playing at the same time (eg: a ‘three-part’ harmony).
Interval
An intervalis the distance between any two notes on guitar. Intervals are the building blocks of music that form chords and scales when put together. Find out everything you need to know about intervals in simple language in this guide.
Intonation
Intonationis how in-tune your guitar is with itself. A guitar with bad intonation will sound out-of-tune, even if the strings are perfectly in tune. Find out about intonation and how to adjust it in this guide.
Inversion
An inversionis when the notes of a chord are rearranged so the lowest sounding note isn’t the root note. Chord inversions can sound different than the ‘standard’ chord form while still remaining the same chord.
Jam
Jammingis when you play with other musicians. Some guitarists think of jamming as any time you’re playing with other musicians (eg: playing songs), while other guitarists only think of jamming as improvising. In other words, when you’re making things up on the spot with other musicians.
May 4, 2022 · Some older text-based Guitar TAB found online use the symbol ^ to represent a bend. In formal Guitar TAB, a number is given at the top of the curved arrow to tell us what type of bend to play. ‘1/2’ means a half-step bend, ‘full’ means a whole-step bend, ‘1 1/2’ means a one-and-a-half step bend and so on.
A Definition. Guitar TAB is a form of musical notation in which notes are represented by numbers showing the fret at which the the string should be held down in order for that note to sound. The numbers are positioned on horizontal lines which represent the strings of a guitar. See below for a note-by-note guide to reading TAB.
Jun 25, 2021 · Guitar Slang. The Axe – or Ax, depending on whom you ask – is possibly the most common slang word for a guitar. Surprisingly, the term dates back to the mid-’50s when jazz musicians used it as a slang word for saxophone. Over time, it became a go-to term for the electric guitar. Archtop – is slang for the steel-stringed acoustic guitar ...
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Mar 12, 2021 · All of which can be displayed using guitar tab. In text-based, or ASCII tab a bend is displayed using the letter b or occasionally the ^ character. The letter r is also used to indicate when to release the note, and p is used to indicate pre-bending. A cool technique involving bending the note before playing it.
