The guitar is maybe the most famous and recognizable of all the stringed instruments.
It consist of six strings which can be either made of steel or nylon.
Its one of the most versatile instruments in the world.
Any kind of music can be played on it.
Learning to play the guitar can consist of learning a few chords and strumming a few songs to studying music at a professional level.
This involves learning to read music and studying theory.
There is nothing wrong with this and if you plan on becoming a professional musician it is something you should consider.
Somewhere in between learning a few chords and music theory is a system of notation known as tablature or tab for short.
This is a much easier and faster way to learn to play really well (with lots of practice of course).
Tab has become so popular that almost every piece of guitar music can be found written in tablature as well as standard notation.
Here are the basics of tab.
e-- B-- G-- D-- A-- E-- The lines represent the guitar strings.
The small "e" is the bottom or skinny string of the guitar.
The big "E" is the top or fat string.
Here is how music is written in tablature.
e-5--8--5-0- B-5-5--2- G-7--7-2- D-2- A-0- E-- Here we play the G string in the 7th fret, then the B string in the 5th fret and so on in sequence.
Any time a sequence of notes fall directly underneath each other they are played all together.
A "0" on a string means that that string is played open, that is with no fretting.
This is the basics of tablature.
So pick up that guitar, find some tabs and start shredding.