How do I read guitar tabs?

Question

What do the numbers mean? Do the tabs tell you how to play each note or just which notes to play?

for example

http://guitar.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.fretplay.com/tabs/r/rolling%5Fstones/as%5Ftears%5Fgo%5Fby%2Dcrd.shtml

Answer 1

the numbers are the fret number and the lines are the strings, 6-1, fat E on bottom, skinny e on top. very simple, much easier than notation. rock.

Answer 2

guitar tabs show a section of the neck of a standard tuned guitar.
EADGBE tuned lowest (fattest string) to highest (skinniest string)

the strings are indicated from the top of the tab diagram being the highest note string to the lowest note string on the guitar. (from the high E string through the notes to the low E string)

the numbers indicate which fret your finger should be positioned below in order to play the correct note.

as you move your fingers from the tuning pegs toward the sound hole or electric/magnetic pickups, the tone or note of each string goes up in pitch by one chromatic note.

as for how to play each note: anywhere you see an "X" on a string, it means DON"T PLAY THIS STRING.

if you are just beginning to learn to play the guitar, then you need get started with a website that I still use to tune with now and again and which is a big help for self learning players.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/onlinetuner.html

the site has a lot of really good helps for a newbie and links to some other goodies as well.

I also recommend when you get the bucks together, TAKE LESSONS! it can help you more than you realize to have a systematic goal and help to reach it.

Answer 3

The horizontal lines are the string, the numbers on the lines are which fret to play.

Answer 4

ok your guitar is set up like. eadgbe. E being the lowest sounding. so if you have a number 5 on the last line that would be the 5th fret on E. e _____
B ---------
G -----------
D -----------
A ----------
E ----5---

Answer 5

Most guitar magazines have a page that tells you what everything is.