FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: How To Play Guitar Tab

Question:
I've been checking out guitar sites on the web and finding lots of guitar tabs which are pretty much meaningless to me. Is there anywhere on the web where I can find an idiot's guide to understanding guitar tabs?

Answer:
Go to a music store and buy a real book with tablature in it. The problem with internet tab is that it doesn't show you the timing and therefore you have to know the song pretty well already or the tab won't be of any help to you. As far as actually figuring out how to translate the tablature to your guitar, just stick a finger on each string at the fret numbered by the tab. The problem with not having the timing is you have no way of knowing how long you should keep your fingers at the position before moving on to the next one. I love all of the free things on the internet as much as the next guy, but buying a few good music books here and there is well worth it imho. To begin playing this song you would put your finger on the low E string at the 0 position. Any string at the 0 position is just an open string. So, in essence, to play this song you would pick the low E string in the open position 9 times. After that, you could get your fingers set up with index finger on the 5th fret at the B string, middle finger on the 6th fret at the G string, and ring finger (here's the tricky part) at the 7th fret across the B, G, and D strings. You could just cheat here and just play the 3 strings (D G B) because the A string looks to be a bit off as far as the rest of the pattern is concerned here. In reality, the pattern is correct and if you know how to play barre chords, it's just a simple D chord, A chord, D chord before getting back to plucking the low E string again. If you want the official Led Zeppelin tab, you'll simply have to go to a store and buy a book. I've looked at quite a bit of internet tablature and I've seen more mistakes than I ever thought possible. It reminds me alot of advice given to cheaters by teachers in school. Don't copy off the guy next to you because he's just as stupid as you are. :) Point here is you can probably do just as well yourself by listening to the CD and figuring it out with a little old fashioned hard work.