The following is the definition of the term tablature from the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
Tablature- System of writing down music to be performed other than by use of notes. Instead figures, letters, and similar signs were used. There were systems of organ and lute tablature in which the symbols represented the position of the players fingers, not the pitch. Diagrammatic notation used today in popular music for guitar, ukulele, etc is a type of tablature.
The Spanish and Italian System.
The earliest book to contain music for the four course guitar was published in 1546 in Alonso Mudarras “tres libros de Musica in cifra para vihuela”. He was a Spanish composer and the Spanish and the Italians both used the same tablature system. The system consisted of lines to represent each of the strings like our modern tablature system. Then numbers were placed on the line to indicate which fret your fingers were to be placed at. Then comes the biggest difference between old and new notation and that is there was a rhythmic indication above the tablature to tell you how long each note was to be held.
French Tablature
French Tablature was used by both the French and the Germans. The French system differs from the Spanish and Italian system in the fact that it uses letters to indicate the fret and the highest line represents the highest course or string of the instrument. The letter a represents the open string the rest of the alphabet the frets so a= open string, b= 1st fret c=2nd fret and so on. So the above example in french tablature would look like this
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