Drum tabs are a different way to write down drum music than standard musical notation. Although it may not provide the same level of detail as traditional music notation, many people find tablature to be easier to read and more user friendly. Drum tabs have rows running from left to right that represent each individual drum and columns running along the top that indicate timing. The player can tell which drum to hit on which beat looking at the positions of various symbols in the rows and columns. Different symbols for different types of hits also tell the drummer how to play a specific note.
Music tablature is a non-standard method of demonstrating how to play a specific instrument. Other instruments, such as the guitar and piano, have their own tablature style of music. The technically correct method of displaying music is music notation, which is done on five lines, called a staff, with different lines representing different notes. Because it is difficult to decipher the meaning of the various symbols used in music notation, “tabs,” or simpler methods of demonstrating how to play a song, have been developed.
The specific rows and columns the notes fall on are the most important things to look at when trying to decipher drum tabs. To represent the hi hat, bass drum, and snare drum, each row is labeled to the far left of the tab with letters such as “HH,” “BD,” and “SD.” A hit of that specific drum corresponds to any mark in the row. If the drums are referred to in a non-standard way, most drum tabs will include a “key.”
Columns represent the passage of time in the song along the top row of drum tabs. Each bar is divided into the beats that make it up, which are usually four in number. The drum tab will have something like “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” along the top, and the notes will be organized into those columns. This example assumes a song with eight notes and four beats per bar, but sixteenth notes, which are displayed on drum tabs as “1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a,” may also be used. This is what drummers are taught to say to stay in time when learning the instrument, so it comes naturally to most players.
To show different types of hits in drum tabs, different symbols can be used in place of a hit. The standard symbol for a cymbal strike is “x,” and for a drum strike is “o.” Different symbols represent other techniques, such as an accent and a ghost note. An “O” stands for an accent, while a “g” stands for a ghost note.