A Note on Tablature

There were three main types of tablature in sixteenth-century music for plucked strings: Italian tablature, French tablature, and German tablature.

Italian Tablature

Tablature with six lines, each representing a course (i.e., pair of strings tuned in unison or octaves), and numbers is referred to as Italian tablature. The numeral "0" equals an "open" or unfretted course, "1" equals the first fret, "2" the second fret, and so on. In Italian tablature, the highest line represents the lowest-sounding course:

G-------------------|--------------------3--|-1--3--------------------|---
C-------------------|-----------3--1--0-----|-------0--1--3--------3--|---
f--0-2-3-2-3-2-0-2--|-3---2--0--------------|----------------0--2-----|-0-
a-------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|---
d'------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|---
g'------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|-1-

This arrangement, while odd to modern performers who read music, is quite natural when one remembers that the lowest-sounding strings are farthest from the floor when playing the instrument (and thus "on top"). The pitches for the opening of the above example would thus be: f-g-a flat-g-a flat-g-f-g. This type of tablature fits well on the simpler fonts of word processors and Web pages (appearing, incidentally, much like movable type used in many of the original books).

Rhythm signs were placed above the staff, usually in the form of abbreviated stems and flags. The rhythmic value is repeated for each of the notes below it until a new rhythm sign occurs. These are much more difficult to indicate without special signs or symbols that may not be supported by all Web browsers. For the present, the following system of one stem and stemless flags will have to do:

                                                      \ 
                                  \                   \ 
|   = semibreve   \  = minim      \  = semiminim      \  = fusa

                  \. = dotted minim

The example above, with rhythm signs, would appear as follows:

   \ 
   \                      \
   \                  \   \

G-------------------|--------------------3--|-1--3--------------------|---
C-------------------|-----------3--1--0-----|-------0--1--3--------3--|---
f--0-2-3-2-3-2-0-2--|-3---2--0--------------|----------------0--2-----|-0-
a-------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|---
d'------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|---
g'------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|-1-

French Tablature

French tablature also uses a staff, but the highest line represents the highest-pitched string and letters are used instead of numbers. Thus "a" equals an open string, "b" the first fret, "c" the second fret and so on. The letters are usually placed in the spaces of the staff, not directly on the line as in Italian tablature, so only 5 lines are needed:

           \                 \               \ 
     \.    \           \     \     \         \ 

g'= ________________a__c________a__a_____a___________a_
d'= _a_____c___|_d_____a___|_______a___|_a___e_____|___
a = _a_________|_a_____a___|_b_____b___|_a_________|___
f = _a_________|_a_________|___________|___________|___
c = _c_________|_c_____c___|___________|_c______a__|___
G =                          d     a                 d


(Fantasie from Morlaye 1552a)

German Tablature

German tablature does not use a staff and is generally regarded as the most difficult form of tablature to read. Each individual course/fret coordinate on the instrument is given its own number, letter, or symbol. The alphabet begins with the first fret of the fifth course (apparently this method of tablature was developed for the older, 5-course instrument) and continues across the fingerboard:

             Course:   
             6    5    4    3    2    1

      Open   A    1    2    3    4    5
  Fret: 1    B    a    b    c    d    e 
        2    C    f    g    h    i    k 
        3    D    l    m    n    o    p 
        4    E    q    r    s    t    v
        5    F    x    y    z    &    9

No staff is needed, and the individual voices are often differentiated by vertical placement:

          \                               \  
   |.     \       |             \   \.    \  \   | |

                | g     z     | p                | 5
   c            |             | c                | n
   o      d  4  | d     o     | 4   5     o  4   | d
   L            | l     f     | L   l     z  g   | l 


("O haylige marie" from Virdung 1511)

In the thematic index, only Italian and French tablatures will be used, with German tablature being "translated" into Italian.