now... i am very familiar with guitar tablature, but i just purchased my first harmonica today and every time i go to a different site there is a different way to read the tablature..... i understand the arrow system as well as the circled numbers in some of the youtube.com videos, but i am unfamiliar with the dashes included in the tab here and many other sites. anyone have a little help for a VERY fresh harmonica player?

I do it like this:

3=blow 3
-3=draw 3
-3'=draw 3 bent a half step
-3''=draw 3 bent a full step
-3'''=draw 3 bent a step and a half
(-4, 5) or sumthin' like that=a draw 4 and draw 5 chord
8'=blow bent 8

I guess 8ob=8 overblow and
4od=4 overdraw,
but I don't do overblows and overdraws.
(Hey...If one's an overblow, why isn't the other an underdraw? )

On a chromatic
-3< means draw 3 and push the button.

A lot of times, the person posting a tab will clarify what is meant by some of the stuff in the tab.

Sometimes you just have to figure out what is meant by trying it. There isn't any official, universally accepted harp tab.



Post Edited (2008-08-05 03:38:45)

That pretty much sums it up. They usually indicate what the symbols mean
if they have a different symbolizing system than usual. Like the 'b' and the
'#' signs. The b sign is another way to indicate a semi-tone flat bend, and
the # sign is the same only it's sharp. This sign ~~~~ means to let ring. I
don't use it, and I don't why people use it, because we'd know when to let
a note ring if we know the song?