There are typically two ways to write down songs: one is with standard notation on musical sheets, whilst the other is to use blank tab sheets to easily and intuitively note down chords, notes, scales and additional string actions.

Whilst learning standard musical notation is useful and important, a common rite of passage for so many guitarists who first pick up the instrument is to look up the guitar tabs of popular songs and learn to play along.

What makes it so popular is that it is intuitive; you do not need to learn the importance of stems or quavers, but instead simply have to follow the neck of the guitar and place your fingers on the right numbers.

However, whilst it is very popular today and is often paired with staff notation in songbooks, tablature not only predates the guitar but was the standard for string instruments from the 14th to the 17th century.

Part of this coincided with the rise of the lute and especially the vihuela, which were both early ancestors of the modern guitar.

It was used for largely the same reasons that guitarists use tabs today; tabs can be read and written with very little musical training, meaning that folk songs passed down primarily through oral tradition could be written down and more easily preserved.

Whilst it fell out of favour by the 18th century as formal musical education made staff notation the standard for music writing, even for instruments like the guitar, this changed dramatically by the 20th century.

Musical genres such as the folk revival, blues, jazz and rock and roll were far better suited for tablature than notation, and many musicians who did not have formal musical education backgrounds used them to learn and write down how to play songs they liked.

Why Are Guitar Tabs So Popular?

• Easy to learn without musical knowledge.

• Intuitive and easy to understand.

• A huge catalogue of songs is available in tab form.