Taken from: http://thetabsource.com/lessons/drums/readingtab.html How To Read Drum Tablature: TAB or tablature is a method of writing down music played on the drums. Instead of using symbols like in standard musical notation, it uses ordinary ASCII characters and numbers, making it ideal for places like the internet where anybody with any computer can link up, copy a TAB file, and read it. Tabs are very similar to standard notation, as every drum or cymbal has a seperate line, and tabs follow standard music theory such as measures and time signatures. Tabs differ from standard notation in that note values are not shown. Thus, an eight note, quarter note, etc would all appear as the same, with different #'s of spaces between, signifying their values. A complete guide to reading tab: Normal Tab Notation Staff Symbols: C |-Cymbal----------| H |-Hi-Hat----------| Rd|-Ride-Cymbal-----| t |-Small-Tom-------| T |-Medium-Tom------| S |-Snare-Drum------| F |-Floor-Tom-------| F2|-2nd-Floor-Tom---| B |-Bass-Drum-------| Hf|-Hi-Hat-w/foot---| Notation Symbols: Cymbals: |-x-| Strike Cymbal or Hi-Hat |-X-| Strike Loose Hi-Hat, or hit Crash Hard |-o-| Open High Hat |-#-| Choke Cymbal (Grab Cymbal With Hand After Striking It) |-s-| Splash Cymbal |-c-| China Cymbal |-b-| Bell of Ride |-x-| Click Hi-Hat With Foot Drums: |-o-| Strike |-O-| Accent |-g-| Ghost Note |-f-| Flam |-d-| Drag |-b-| Soft One-Handed Roll |-B-| Accented One-Handed Roll |-@-| Snare Rim Other Music Notation: p - Piano, Soft f - Forte, Loud mp - Mezzo piano, Moderately Soft mf - Mezzo forte, Moderately Loud c - Crescendo, Getting louder - keeps getting louder from where the "c." is written to the end of the "<" signs dc - Getting softer - keeps getting softer from where the "dc." is written to the end of the ">" signs. ---------------------------------------- How to Read the Measures How to Read Measures in 4/4 C |----------------| |----------------| H |----------------| |----------------| S |----------------| |----------------| B |----------------| |----------------| |1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a| |1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a| How to Read Measures in 4/4 with 32nd Notes C |-------------------------------| H |-------------------------------| S |-------------------------------| B |-------------------------------| |1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a| How to Read Measures in Triplets C |------------| |-------------| H |------------| OR |-------------| S |------------| |-------------| B |------------| |-------------| |1ae2ae3ae4ae| | 1ae2ae3ae4ae| OR: C |------------|------------| H |------------|------------| S |------------|------------| B |------------|------------| |1tl2tl3tl4tl|1tl2tl3tl4tl| Repeats : Repeats are indicated above the measures. |---------repeat 3x-------| H |------------|------------| S |------------|------------| B |------------|------------| |1tl2tl3tl4tl|1tl2tl3tl4tl| OR: |---------play 4x---------| H |------------|------------| S |------------|------------| B |------------|------------| |1tl2tl3tl4tl|1tl2tl3tl4tl| OR: |========== 4x ===========| H |------------|------------| S |------------|------------| B |------------|------------| |1tl2tl3tl4tl|1tl2tl3tl4tl| In all of these examples, the two bar groove would be played 4 times in total. Repeating Measures with Varied Endings: _________________________________ |1. |2. | C |----------------|----------------| H |----------------|----------------| S |----------------|----------------| B |----------------|----------------| |1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a|1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a| When you see this, you will play measure 1, then you will play however many bars are right above it (or right beside it). When you get to measure 1 again, you will skip it and go straight to measure 2. You will do this for however many numbers there are. Ex. H |x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---| S |----o-------o---|----o-------o---|----o-------o---| B |o-------o-------|o-------o-o-----|o-----o-o-------| |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + | ___________________________________ |1. |2. | C |--------------x-|--------x---x-x-| H |x---------------|x---------------| S |--o-o-o-----o---|--------o-o-o---| B |o-------o-o---o-|o-o-o-o-------o-| |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + | Would actually be played as: C |----------------|----------------|----------------|--------------x-| H |x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---|x---------------| S |----o-------o---|----o-------o---|----o-------o---|--o-o-o-----o---| B |o-------o-------|o-------o-o-----|o-----o-o-------|o-------o-o---o-| |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + | C |----------------|----------------|----------------|--------x---x-x-| H |x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---|x---------------| S |----o-------o---|----o-------o---|----o-------o---|--------o-o-o---| B |o-------o-------|o-------o-o-----|o-----o-o-------|o-o-o-o-------o-| |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + | ----------------------------------------