Reading Ukulele Tablature
Ukulele (and other stringed instruments') music is often written in tablature or tabs. Tabs are an easy way to describe how to play a song without using musical notation.
This is the chorus of Oh Susanna :
Beneath the words is the tablature. The four horizontal lines represent each string of the Uke. The top line of the tab is the first string, which is actually the bottom string when you're holding the Ukulele. Once you've got that sorted out in your mind, the rest is easy.
Each note is represented by a number on the string to be played. That number indicates which fret you should hold down. So, to play the first note above, hold down the second string at the third fret. The next note is the same. The next two notes are the second fret on the first string. Where the number given is 0, the string is played open (without holding down any fret).
There's one thing that tablature can't tell you, though -- the timing. To play a song using only tabs, you really need to know the song.
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