Bass tab paper
Four lines for E, A, D and G — and a line count you can raise the day you start playing a five-string.
Bass tab is four lines because a bass has four strings, tuned E, A, D and G from the lowest. As on guitar tab the lowest-sounding string is the bottom line, and a number on a line is the fret to stop that string at. Nothing about the reading is different; the sheet is simply two lines shorter.
The practical difference is how far up the neck the numbers go. A bass part sits on four strings instead of six, so getting to a note often means moving along the string rather than across to the next one, and 12, 14 and 17 turn up constantly where a guitar part would have used an open string. Two-digit numbers are the normal case rather than the exception, which is why this page opens at a wider line spacing than the guitar sheet does.
Five- and six-string basses are one control away. Set the tab lines number to five and the low B gets a line of its own at the bottom; set it to six for a bass with a high C as well. The spacing, bar lines, systems per page and paper size all behave exactly as they did — only the string count changes.
If you want the rhythm written out properly as well as the fingering, the staff-and-tab sheet pairs a five-line staff above the tab and joins them into one system. Tab on its own says where, and never says when.
Five millimetres between lines rather than the four and a half guitar tab opens with, because bass lines spend more time high up the neck than a guitar part does and a page of two-digit numbers needs the extra room. Drop it back if you are writing a root-note part that never leaves the first five frets — there is no virtue in wasting the page.
Staff and tab paper by instrument
- Staff and tab paper, any sizeThe full generator — any staff height, six systems
- Blank sheet musicFive-line staves · manuscript paper at any staff height
- Guitar tab paperSix lines · one per string, spacing you can set
- Ukulele tab paperFour lines · tighter spacing, short neck
- Grand staff paperTwo staves joined by a brace · piano, harp, organ
- Staff and tab paperNotation over tablature · joined as one system
Questions
What about a five-string bass?
Set the tab lines control to five. The extra line goes on at the bottom for the low B, which is where it belongs — the string order runs low to high from the bottom line up. Six works too, for a bass with a high C.
Why is bass tab spaced wider than guitar tab here?
Because bass parts live further up the neck. With only four strings, reaching a note more often means sliding along one than crossing to the next, so two-digit fret numbers are routine rather than occasional, and they need clear space between the lines or they collide with the ones above and below.
How do I check the bass tab printed at the right size?
Four lines have three gaps, so measure the whole span from the top line to the bottom line and divide by three. At the 5 mm default that span is 15 mm. If it comes out at 14, your print dialogue shrank the page to fit and every other measurement on the sheet went with it.
Other tools
- Staff and tab paperBlank manuscript and tablature ruled to a staff height you can measure with a ruler, not to whatever the PDF you found happened to be.
- Beading graph paperCharting paper drawn from the bead's own measurements, so the beads on the page are the size of the beads in the tube.
- Cross stitch pattern paperCharting paper at the size your stitches will actually be, for the count of fabric you actually have.
- English paper piecing templatesPick a shape, type the side length you actually want, and print it at true size.
- Bubble answer sheet generatorScantron-style answer sheets, built to your question count.
- Blank clock facesClock faces with hands drawn where they genuinely belong — at 3:45 the hour hand sits three quarters of the way to four, because that is what a clock does.
- Blank periodic tableEvery blank periodic table online is a fixed image.
- Attendance sheet and gradebook gridsPaste twenty-eight names, choose a month, print.
- Printable graph paperAny spacing you like, in millimetres or inches, printed at true size.
- Printable dot grid paperDot paper at the spacing you actually use — 5 mm for a bullet journal, or whatever you type.
- Printable lined paperCollege ruled, wide ruled, or handwriting paper with a dashed midline — at the real spacings, not an approximation.
- Year in pixelsOne cell a day for a whole year, drawn for the year you name — so February is the right length and the months stop where they actually stop.
- Savings and goal colouring chartsType your goal and how many cells you want.
