A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO READING GUITAR TABS AND (a small incite 
into) PLAYING THE GUITAR!!!!

————————IMPORTANT—INFOMATION————————
————————PLEASE—TAKE—NOTICE————————
————————BEFORE—YOU—READ—ON————————

This document has been written in a way that I hope is easy for 
everyone to understand, IF NOT PLEASE SEND ME ENY ALTERATIONS 
WHICH YOU THINK WOULD EXPLANE WHAT IM TRYING TO GET ACROSS BETTER 
AND I WILL GLADLY CHANGE THEM (and if I have made eny mistakes).

A lot of guitarists do have there guitars tuned or strung in different 
ways, but for the purposes of this help sheet and for all the beginners 
just starting out with tabs/guitar, I will stick to explaining 
everything in standard tuning, (which is E, A, D,G,B, Low E)

Through out this guide Ive included hints and tips which I think 
may be of us to someone or just random stuff about guitars which 
maybe of use to people??

FACT: NOT all types of tablature are the same!
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO TAB THEIR VERSIONS OF SONGS SLIGHTLY 
DIFFERENTLY TO OTHER TABBERS, BUT THEYRE EASLY FIGURED OUT 
(There just different symbols which have been used, unless 
you see eny American tabs, I say its best to stay clear of them 
ones).

FIRST THINGS FIRST
YOU HAVE TO FIND UR COMFY POSISTIONS
When you have found the best way to hold your guitar, and to feel 
comfortable whilst playing either sitting or standing up, 
you will be better off finding your own way as it is important 
that you are comfy it can in some cases, cause you to strain your 
wrist or summut!!!! (Very rare thou, I think).

Abit of Useful Knowledge 
 
By striking the strings, either by using a guitar pick or by 
using your fingers, it will create the sound by causing them 
to Vibrating, upon causing them to vibrate, the sound will flow 
from your guitar.

Fig.1
THIS IS A BASIC TAB SHEET

E: —————————————————————— a.k.a. low E)————————————————————————————
B: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
G: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
D: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
A: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
E: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The top line of Fig.1 is known as the low E or 1st string
The bottom line of Fig.1 is known as the 6th string or the E 
string

The low E string produces a high—pitched sound as where the 
E string creates a low—pitched sound 


A handy hint:
TOP E is the fattest string on the Fretboard, and the low E 
is the thinnest string on fretboard.

What do the numbers on the tab sheet mean?
The numbers you can see on the tab sheet are the locations of where 
your fingers should be placed on the fretboard see Fig.2.
 
(THESE NOTES ARE PLAYED INDERVIDUALLY NO,
SLIDES AND NO HAMMER ONS, e.t.c.).

Fig.2                            Fig.3

E: ——————————————————————————   —————————————————————————————————
B: ——————————————————————————   —————————————————————————————————
G: ——————————————————————————   —————————————————————————————————
D: ——————————————————————————   —————————————————————————————————
A: ——12——3——4——5——6—————————   ——0——0——0——0—————————————————————
E: ——————————————————————————   —————————————1——2——3——4——————————

In Fig.3 you should notice that there is a 0 on there, this just 
simply means that you play an open note or an open string. 
This means playing the STRING (however you choose to) WITHOUT 
UR FINGERS TOUCHING A FRETT ON THE STRING that its suggesting. 

When playing a note or chord make sure that your fingers are placed 
firmly on the strings and that Ur fingers are somewhere between 
the centre and the front of each fret.

HANDY TIP—not sounding right!
If youre a beginner and for some reason a chord or notes doesnt 
sound right, try picking each string ONE at a time so u can locate 
where your going wrong. 
If you hear a muffled sound, and it sounds abit like something 
is stopping it from vibrating. This normally means that you 
need to add more pressure to that note you are trying to make, 
If u are hitting the strings correctly then try re—tuning your 
strings,

HANDY TIP—new strings wont stay tuned!
If u are using new strings they dont tend to stay in tune 
For long, but when they settle into their positions u should 
notice that you dont need to tune them as regular but you should 
get into the habit of tuning ur guitar every time you play it.
After putting on new strings, to help them settle in faster, 
keep bending them a for bit whilst your tuning each string it 
will help stretch them into place.

HERES A FEW CHORDS 
FOR YOU TO TRY OUT!!
THERE ARE 7 GREAT CHORDS HERE WHICH ARE MAIN CHORDS AND ARE USED 
BY LOTS OF BANDS, I THINK THESE ARE GOOD STARTING PIONTS FOR BEGINERS 
TO TRY OUT. THEY ARE EASY TO CHANGE BETWEEN AND THERES NOT REALLY 
THAT MUCH TO THEM (so shouldnt take long to learn).
 
On this page up until now, u have only seen tabs with 1 note played 
at eny time, chords are often played with more than two strings 
at once, instead of one note at a time. U can play chords with eny 
amount of strings being struck at once, but obviously no more 
than 6 strings, unless youre using a 12—string guitar, that is. 
Eny way deciphering eny chords from tab is very easy, the numbers 
are placed in lines going down from the low E to the E, place 
ur fingers on the strings and frets according to which chord 
you are going to attempt to play first.
Over the top of the tab sheets, the chord names are often displayed 
over the chord formations (there not always displayed thou)

Chords I believe are good for beginners 

Fig.4

      A   B   C   D   E   F   G 
E: ———————————————2———————1———1——————————————————————————————————————
B: ———————————1———3———————1———0——————————————————————————————————————
G: ———2———3———0———2———————2———0——————————————————————————————————————
D: ———2———3———2———0———2———3———0——————————————————————————————————————
A: ———0———1———3———————2———————2——————————————————————————————————————
E: ———————————————————0———————3——————————————————————————————————————

Symbols used in tabs
x ~ / \ b h p

(This is just a possible scenario of how they would fit in on a 
tab sheet).
Fig.5

E: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
B: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
G: ———x—x————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
D: ———x—x————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
A: ———x—x4~~—4/6\4b—4h6p4———————————————————————————————————————————
E: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Now there is numbers on tab sheets and theres also letters and 
the one which u will need for some of these chords Ive listed 
for you below is 
X and this symbol tells you to play the string its covering 
but its needed to finger muted (easy just rest ur finger on the 
string and add slight pressure, u should realise soon how much 
pressure you need to apply, but thats gonna be trial and error 
for you.
 ~ Riverto this indicates that u should let the note ring out 
for a short while.
/or\ this means slide from 1 note to the other.
b Bend, strike the string and then basically bend the string 
h or p this means hammer on or pull off, basically to hammer 
on, pick ur first note then hit ur second note with ur other finger 
without striking the string again, for pull offs work on the 
same principles but in a reverse fashion. 

If there is eny strings which have no number or letters on it then 
they, dont need to be played, as the strings are not used in that 
particular chord, there many different variations of these 
chords and others to, but advance to them at a later date, start 
small grow big.
EG. G, G7, G+ and so on lots of chords to play with.

THINGS YOU SHOULD LEARN ABOUT THE GUITAR.

Where the notes are placed on the fret board.
How 2 replace strings
General cleaning

LAST COMMENTS FROM ME

Make sure that u listen out for eny dud notes,
Or mistakes you may make, dont forget that every one will makes 
mistakes to start with, if we didnt make mistakes we wouldnt 
be able to learn from them, would we???.
If you get stuck, and if youve been trying to play something 
for a long while, sometimes its best if you take a short break 
from it and try again later on. 
If your having trouble trying to play it at the right tempo (speed), 
just practice it at a slower tempo then build the speed gradually 
as you go along.

Final comment by me
JUST REMEMBER THAT A GUITAR IS NOT A TOY IT S A WEAPON AND WHEN USED 
PROPERLLY IT CAN ENTERTIAN MILLIONS 
(Spoken by Robey)