Tablature not “standard”???

[Loraine]

Hi @Crowls and welcome to TAC!

Your guitar is tuned correctly and the tablature is correct too. The tablature is set up to show the high E at the top and the strings then follow with the low E showing on the bottom string. I can see where it might be confusing, but it is because the high E is called string 1, B is String 2, A string 3, D string 4, A string 5, and the low E string 6. It seems that this would be backwards, because the low E appears to be the top, but guitar is weird in that the bottom string (high E) is actually called the top and string 1. It’s been this way since the guitar was born, and it’s too late to change it now. You’ll get used to it.

Hope I didn’t confuse you.

[Crowls]

Hi Loraine,

Your reply was extremely helpful. Thank you!

Makes perfect sense. Onward I go! 🙂

Update: Ahhhh, it’s like I’m looking at the strings of the guitar

if I laid it flat on my lap! Got it! Thanks.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by  Crowls.

[That_Guy]

It’s kind of annoying to get used to but that seems to be the way everyone does it. And then when they start talking about walk downs that are actually going up the strings and walk ups that are actually going down the strings…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by  That_Guy.

[tailsawaggin]

The top string is the one with the highest pitch, and the bottom string is the one with the lowest pitch, and walk ups go up in pitch, while walk downs go down in pitch.

[That_Guy]

What I’m saying is when you go up and pitch you’re actually going down the strings and when you go down in pitch you’re going up the strings. Everything’s kind of laid out backwards

[tailsawaggin]

You might also be going right if you’re going up in pitch and left if you’re going down, or if you’re left handed you’d go left to go up and right to go down, unless you’re playing piano, since then you’d always go right to go up and left to go down, or harp, where in is up and out is down. Singers and bugle players can go everywhere without going anywhere, but steel drum players have to travel across all dimensions of space and time. 😁

I think if you want to go up to go up and down to go down, you have to play the theremin. 🤣

At any rate, what I’m saying is that it’s only confusing if we’re thinking in terms of physical movement instead of musical movement. If we think in terms of musical movement, it’s the same across all instruments, and the physical movement is incidental. It’s how we do what we do, but it’s not what we do. Music is what we do.

[Crowls]

Thanks, everyone! Much appreciated.