How to Learn a Song on Guitar

People learn to play the guitar in many ways. Some take formal lessons from a guitar teacher and others teach themselves through books, DVDs and computer programs. If you come to guitar with a musical background, you probably know how to read music. However, many guitarists play songs on the guitar without reading a note of music. These guitarists learn a song through guitar tablature, or tabs.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Realize that guitar tablature, better known as tabs, is a different kind of music notation that tells you which notes to play. You'll find dozens of guitar tab websites on the Internet where musicians share songs with each other.

2. Learn a guitar song using tabs by searching for a familiar song. Tabs work best when you already know a song. Tabs just tell you what notes to play, not the tempo or whether to play a quarter or eighth note.

3. Familiarize yourself with the strings on a guitar. The top string is an E, followed by B, G, D, A and E.

4. Read a tab on a staff with six lines going across. The top line represents the top string of your guitar, the E; the second line is the B string; and so on until you reach the E or bottom string of your guitar.

5. Look for numbers on the lines, which tell you which fret to play. A "4" on the third line tells you to play the fourth fret on the third string (the G string). A "0" means to play the open string without pressing down on any fret.

Resources

• Search for guitar tabs for a song at Guitar Music Tabs.