Let ring

An instruction in tab to allow the notes in a passage to sustain rather than muting them as the next notes are played.

Let ring, often abbreviated in tab and sometimes shown with a bracket or a dotted line, tells the player to keep the fingers holding each note for its full value while the phrase continues. It produces a cumulative, chiming texture where earlier notes bleed into later ones, which is a core part of fingerstyle and chord melody writing. The opposite instruction, mute or staccato, is what creates the choppy feel of funk. The two markings are the main tools for controlling texture in printed guitar music.

Example: An arpeggio passage marked let ring at the top of the phrase is played so that every note continues sounding underneath the ones that follow.

Let ring

See also