Okay, so this is to any piano players out there who are either too lazy to find sheet music, or really like to hunt through the internet to find piano tabs.
HOW TO READ PIANO TABS
The example I'm using is the intro to the song "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance.
intro
3|-------------F-F-F-F-----|(RH)
3|-e--D--F--e--D-D-D-D-----|(RH)
2|-b--b--b--b--b-b-b-b-----|(RH) x2
2|--e--e--e--e-------------|(LH)
1|-------------b-b-b-b-----|(LH)
Okay, so it looks really weird, because you play all five lines at once. I'll start from the left side of the second line ot the right, because it has close to everything in it.
3|-e--D--F--e--D-D-D-D-----|(RH)
The number all the way to the left indicates the octave you play this line in. This one is in the third octave. These octaves start and end with a C. The third octave is the one that starts with Middle C.
Now, in this particular section (the melody, now that I've gone a played it again), has both uppercase and lowercase letters in it. That doesn't have anything to do with how loud you play the notes. The lowercase e, for example, is E Natural. Just plain old E, no sharps or flats attached. The uppercase letters, D and F, are sharps or flats.
There are | 's at the beginning and end of this line. Thst indicates that it is all in one measure. Also at the end, you'll see (RH). That means that you play everything before those letters with your right hand. If it said (LH), you'd play it with your left hand. A lot of tabs I've seen don't have that on the end, but I think it's helpful.
Now, let's look at the entire thing again, for timing, spacing, and all that jazz.
3|-------------F-F-F-F-----|(RH)
3|-e--D--F--e--D-D-D-D-----|(RH)
2|-b--b--b--b--b-b-b-b-----|(RH) x2
2|--e--e--e--e-------------|(LH)
1|-------------b-b-b-b-----|(LH)
Do you see how in the second and third lines from the top, the E and B Natural are right on top of each other? That means that you play them at the same time. The E Natural in the fourth line from the top, is right after those two, however. That means that you play it right after you hit the other two notes.
Tabs for piano, just like for any other instrument, don't tell you how fast or how loud to play the notes. I'd suggest listening to the piece you're trying to learn very critically a few times before you try it. Trust me, I've listened to Cander many times, just trying to pick out each individual note, and I still can't get past the intro smoothly. So don't get discouraged.
Finally, at the very end, it says "x2" at the end. That means that you repeat the entire section again, not just that line. I learned that after trying to just play that line and it sounded funny. So whatever it says at the end, after it says which hand, or it says that the measure is over, you need to do it for every line.
Hopefully this was helpful. I learned how to read piano tabs from
this site. If you have any questions on this, just pm me and I'll try my best to answer them. I'll just let you know right now, if you think it's hard to find guitar, bass, or even drum tabs, you'll not be able to say anything about it after trying to find piano tabs.
