Guitar tabs, brought to you by Fret Lessons! Guitar tablature is, by far, the easiest "how to" for playing songs. But you do have to understand how to read it.
You will be given a diagram that looks like the following:
-----------------------------------e
-----------------------------------B
-----------------------------------G
-----------------------------------D
-----------------------------------A
-----------------------------------E
Each line here represents a guitar string. You will notice that this guitar is in "standard" tuning which is "EADGBe."
In the next diagram, we will look at "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes (Note: this is just an interpretation of the artists own work)
-----------------------------------e
-----------------------------------B
-----------------------------------G
-----------------------------------D
---2--3p2--------------------------A
--3--3---3-------------------------E
* With most tabs you will have to find the correct strumming pattern yourelf, although some will try to demonstrate the pattern which can be confusing.
In the diagram above, we are using a G Chord formation. Rather than freely strumming this G Chord, we will be picking certain notes to hit. The first note we will pick is the 3rd fret of the "E" string, or the 6th string. Then we will pick the 2nd fret of the "A" string, or the 5th string. Again we will pick the 3rd fret of the "E" string and this time we will pick the 3rd fret of the "A" string and pull-off to the 2nd fret of that "A" string and finally picking the 3rd fret of the "E" string again.
This is the basic concept of TABS. So you see that it can be quite easy to interpret tabs, but it may restrict you to just those notes rather than creatively playing a song. You'll also notice that these songs are being "tabbed out" by some random Joe who may not have gotten it right when tabbing it.
