One of the easiest way to learn how to play guitar is by practicing songs that have been translated into guitar tablature, or "tabs" as they are commonly known. Looking at a guitar tab might be confusing the first time you see one, but guitar tabs actually provide a very easy way to learn the notes and chords in a song. Many guitar teachers use tabs exclusively, opting never to study with sheet music, because of the simplicity they provide.

Reading A Guitar Tab

A guitar tab is essentially a graphic visualization of the fretboard as if you were looking at it from above. The headstock (top of the guitar) is to the left, and the body (not pictured) is off to the right.

The six lines represent the six strings of the guitar. From the top of the tab to the bottom they are: E (highest pitch), B, G, D, A, and E (lowest pitch).

e-------5-7-----7-|-----------------|-----------------| <- 1st string
B-----5-----5-----|-----------------|-----------------| <- 2nd string
G---5---------5---|-----------------|-----------------| <- 3rd string
D-7---------------|-----------------|-----------------| <- 4th string
A-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| <- 5th string
E-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| <- 6th string

The strings are numbered from top to bottom: The high E string is considered the first string, the B string the second, and so on until E, the sixth string.

Placed directly on the strings are various numbers. These numbers indicate which fret you are playing on that string. If you see the number 3 placed on the third line from the top, that means the note is A# - the third fret on the G string.

Or if you saw the number 7 placed on the 6th string, the note would be B - the seventh fret on the E string.

If you see the number zero on any string, this indicates an open string. You do not have to fret any notes on that string, just play it open.

Reading Chord Tabs

As you learn more and more tabs you'll soon start to see some areas where there are 3 or more numbers stacked on top of each other in the same spot. This notation indicates a chord is being played, which is really just a collection of 3 or more notes being played simultaneously.

All you have to do is play all of these notes at the same time using the proper chord fingering. Some tabs will list the chord name above the notation to provide a shortcut for guitarists who already know how to play that particular chord.

e---3-------------|
B---0-------------|
G---0-------------|
D---0-------------|
A---2-------------|
E---3-------------|

If the chord is meant to be played as an arpeggio - one note at a time instead of all at once - you may see the numbers close together but not stacked vertically. Here is the same G major chord as notated above, except this time it is arpeggiated.

e-------------3---|
B-----------0-----|
G---------0-------|
D-------0---------|
A-----2-----------|
E---3-------------|

Guitar Tab Shortcomings

Once you start to get more comfortable with reading guitar tabs, a few questions might naturally come to mind. "How do I know how slow or fast to play this?" or "What is the rhythm supposed to be like?" are the obvious ones. Unfortunately, the answer probably isn't what you hoped or expected it to be.

Guitar tabs are mainly designed to communicate the chords and notes used in a song. However, they have a complete inability to indicate tempo or rhythm. If you want to know how fast you should be playing, you'll either have to listen closely to the song, or learn to read standard musical notation. Standard notation is the universal form of written musical language - and it has the ability to signify how long a particular note or rest is supposed to be. If you're working solely with guitar tabs you'll need to do some extra ear work to learn the rhythm on your own.

Reading Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs on Guitar Tabs

But don't write guitar tabs off just yet! They may not be able to indicate speed, but they make it easy to follow along with important guitar techniques like hammer-ons and pull-offs. There's no universal way to indicate these techniques on tabs, but most people provide legends that will help you decipher the various symbols used.

The most common way to indicate a hammer-on in a guitar tab is by using the letter h. The h is placed in between two notes (or more) to show you the order they are hammered in.

For example: if you see 3h5 on the 3rd string, this means that you play the 3rd fret on the third string, then quickly hammer on to the fifth fret on the same string. If you saw something like 3h5h7, you would hammer on the 5th fret, the immediately on the 7th.

e-----------------|
B-----------------|
G----3h5----------|
D-----------------|
A---------3h5h7---|
E-----------------|

Pull-offs are notated in a similar fashion, but using the letter p instead. 5p3 on the 2nd string would mean that you are supposed to play the 5th fret on the B string, then quickly pull off and play the third fret. 7p5p3 would be a rapid pull-off descent from the 7th to the 5th to the 3rd fret.

e-----------------|
B----5p3----------|
G-----------------|
D-----------------|
A---------7p5p3---|
E-----------------|

Reading Bends, Slides, and Vibrato on Guitar Tablature

Reading and executing a proper bend using guitar tabs requires that you have trained your ear a little bit and can start to tell the difference between half and full step pitch changes. Bends are indicated on tablature using the letter b.

For example: 10b12 means that you are going to play the note at the tenth fret, but bend it until it sounds like the note on the 12th fret. You aren't actually physically fretting on the 12th; only raise the pitch of the note on the 10th fret with your bend.

e---10b12---------|
B-----------------|
G-----------------|
D-----------------|
A-----------------|
E-----------------|

Slides, where your finger physically slides from one note to the next without leaving the fretboard, are indicated in two common ways: with the letter s, or with a forwards (/) or backwards (\) slash . A forwards slash indicates an upward slide, a backwards indicates a downward slide.

For example: 3s7 means you are sliding your finger from the 3rd fret to the 7th on the indicated string. So does 3/7. 7\3 or 7s3 indicates a backwards slide from the 7th fret to the 3rd.

e-----------------|
B----3s7----------|
G-----------------|
D-----------------|
A----------7\3----|
E-----------------|

Vibrato is another technique commonly notated on guitar tabs. Using the tilde character (~) or a simple v, the tab author can indicate that a certain note should be spiced up using the tight, rigorous shaking motion that produces the vibrato effect. 

e-----------------|
B----5p3~~--------|
G-----------------|
D-----------------|
A---------5h7v----|
E-----------------|

Conclusion

Guitar tabs are simple, yet powerful - but they also have their shortcomings. If you're looking to learn the note and chord components of a song they can be your best friend. But if you're more interested in keeping correct time and playing an accurate rhythm, you'll usually find that you're out of luck with tabs. In these cases you can turn to standard sheet music, but tabs are still too useful to be going away any time soon.