||||EDIT|||| Just saw someone with the name, Gibson.
lol you know who you are, slinger. Anyways, im just starting, wondering about tab, and how to read it, can anyone help, also for a laugh i just came across this tab.
Well, the all the strings on the Guitar have a different names. Let's start with the thickist. From the thickist going down it's like this... E, A, D, G, B, e. A tipical tab looks like this...
You see, B and e and the thinist string on the Guitar. So, the tab tells you to strum the the B and e string once. Hold the B string on the 3rd fret (which is indicaded by the 3). And you leave the e string open (as indicated by the 0). Then you move your finger up to the 5th fret and strum B and e 4 times (this is indicated because the 5 is reapeated 4 times). So thats how you read tablature.
When all things in life are done, Love will be one of the most important endevours one could set out on...
well, to get started, i would learn a few simple songs.
i think most people start out on 3 chord punk songs, but i think power chord give a terrible basis for learning.
i started out with fingerpicking, which i think is an excellent way to start (you sound like you're doing really complex stuff, but you're really just arpeggiating basic chords.), but it can be really hard to figure out without a guitar teacher to help you. if you want to start with that, try "blackbird" by the beatles. grow your fingernails long, and use your thumb for the bass notes and first three fingers for other notes.
as far as other songs to start out on:
hotel yorba is a good one. three chords, all very common open chords.
if you wanna start out rocking right away, you might try i wanna be your dog by iggy pop and the stooges, but like i said, i'd stay way from power chords for now.
if you want to start out writing your own songs, learn the following open chords:
G
C
D
Em
Play these in different combinations until you have a song.
remember to strum using steady up and down motions. don't try to use all down strokes.
really, i'd suggest going to a guitar teacher to learn at least a few basics. i can't tell you how much that helps, even if its only 3 or 4 lessons. when you teach yourself, you think you sound good, but you're probably doing so much "wrong" that you'll hit a roadblock at some point.
other tips: light and medium picks are easy to use, but if you train yourself on heavy picks, you won't regret it. eventually your fingers get stringer for it, you can get more attack on the strings, and you won't ever have to deal with a pick breaking in the middle of a gig (though for awhile, you'l have to deal with dropping the picks. heavy picks are kinda rigid, so it takes awhile to get used to that and apply it to your playing).
always try to practice with a metronome or something. if you want, i can make you a long drum track to practice to. getting a rythm is VERY important. it doesn't matter how fast you can plya a part of a song, if you have to pause to get to the next chord. take it slow at first and gradually increase your speed.
if you're not on acoustic right now, you should be. its much better to learn on an acoustic. the strings are more taut and its generally harder to play, so when you finally move to electric, you'll already have TONS of finger strength and callouses built up and you'll automatically be really good at electric.
always tune your instrument before a gig.
that's enough random advice. any questions, i'm willing to help
2 "pong" systems, Atari 2600, Odyssey2, Intellivision III, Top Loading NES, GameBoy Pocket, Sega Genesis 3, Sega Nomad, Game.com, N64, Playstation, Dreamcast, GameCube, XBox
E---------------------------|-----------------------------------
B---0-------1-------3-------|---12----12--12----12----12--12----
G-------0-------0-------0---|-------0-------0-------0-------0---
D---------------------------|-----------------------------------
A-----------0-------2-------|---10------10------10------10------
E---3-----------------------|-----------------------------------
T+M I T+M I T+M I T+M I M T M I T+M I M T M I
hope that made some sense.
you might want to try just picking that pattern (do the second part, as its the harder part and is used most in the song) without fretting any notes just to get the rythm.
once you get those two picking patterns in the part posted above, you've pretty much learned the song (you just have to move your other hand around to the right places).
(remember to listen to the song to make sure you're playing it right, even if you can't keep up with it yet)
2 "pong" systems, Atari 2600, Odyssey2, Intellivision III, Top Loading NES, GameBoy Pocket, Sega Genesis 3, Sega Nomad, Game.com, N64, Playstation, Dreamcast, GameCube, XBox
erm(sorry if this is a stupid question) but is anything different reading tabs if you are left handed? would you reverse the tab, or the chords? me confused...
poopiesman wrote:erm(sorry if this is a stupid question) but is anything different reading tabs if you are left handed? would you reverse the tab, or the chords? me confused...
uh, i don't know any left handed guitar players, but if i'm thinking straight, it should be the same (assuming the guitar was strung for a left hander)
the tab doesn't actually represent a guitar's neck, just positions on the neck, so if you reverse the tab, you play the song backwards.
2 "pong" systems, Atari 2600, Odyssey2, Intellivision III, Top Loading NES, GameBoy Pocket, Sega Genesis 3, Sega Nomad, Game.com, N64, Playstation, Dreamcast, GameCube, XBox
by the way
i fully expect all of you to go buy or steal guitars and start bands now that you know how to form chords and read tabs.
2 "pong" systems, Atari 2600, Odyssey2, Intellivision III, Top Loading NES, GameBoy Pocket, Sega Genesis 3, Sega Nomad, Game.com, N64, Playstation, Dreamcast, GameCube, XBox
would you reverse the tab, or the chords? me confused...