[nickpayne90]

Hey guys, I have been teaching myself guitar and know all the chords, but there is one thing I dont understand. What do chords like this mean:
-x-x-x--x-x-x--x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
-x-x-x--x-x-x--x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
-x-x-x--x-x-x--x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
-7-7-7--3-3-3--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5
-7-7-7--3-3-3--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5
-5-5-5--1-1-1--3-3-3-0-3-0-3-0. I thought it was finger numbers, but obviously I was wrong. Anyway, if anyone could tell me what that all is then thank you.
-Nick

[rippinforjesus]

That's something called tablature, or tab for short. Notice there are six lines, one for each string of the guitar. What you read as the bottom line is the high E string, and the highest line on the screen is the low E. Each number signifies which fret to play. So for example, on your example it shows a 7 on the low E string, meaning to play the low E string, 7th fret with one finger. Then, it says on the A and D strings to play "5" meaning play the A and D strings both on the 5th fret. Tab is a very easy way to learn to play stuff, because, really, you don't even have to play guitar to play tabbed music. I encourage you strongly to learn how to read music before u enter the tab world......

[rippinforjesus]

oops i got the numbers mixed up. but did u get the jist of it?

[4Glory]

Hello my friend, welcome to the wonderful world of what we guitar players call "power chords" They are, as you have noticed, a shape pattern that is typical. It has your index finger on the root of any chord you want to play, for example a G powerchord has index on the G string (that is 3rd fret, low E) while your ring finger is always 2frets over and on the next string down (so in our example of a G powerchord, your ring finger is on the 5th fret of the low A string) it would look ilke this:

e-x-
b-x-
g-x-
d-5-
a-5-
E-3-

You are reading Tab, so you look at the horiziontal lines, they are the six strings of your guitar, the numbers on the lines tell you what fret to put your fingers on. If they are numbers one above another like we see here, it is a chord so you fret those notes symutaniously.

Lern to master the shape of a powerchord and you can play pretty much any song you want because you will be able to play ANY chord you want to (with a few exceptions)
I emphasize that a powerchord is a shape, so try it and master it on one postion of your fret board, I recomdend on the 5th fret A (so an A powerchord) and then move it to anywhere you like.
To answer your question more shortly:
your tab would be playing a A, F, G E,G,E powerchord progression.
Need more help? I'll explian more fully if you want me to but I hope this helps.
take care and goodluck!

[nickpayne90]

Thank you very much, you made it clear and I think after a little time I'll understand it better. I do know how to read music, I took piano lessons for 3 years so I can read music and chords quite well. How do you know how to play the chords, (A and D) it doesn't say. Thanks again,
-Nick

[4Glory]

Oh I should mention that a powerchord usualy only uses the root and 5th of the scale, many ppl add your pinky finger under the ring finger on the same fret and the next string down to give a fuller sound, so again the G powerchord earlier shows this. I typcial root/5th powerchord G would only look like this:

e-x-
b-x-
g-x-
d-x-
a-5-
E-3-

the ones you posted add your pinky finger under the ring finger on the same fret, the next string down. Practice makes perfect and these are well worth learning!

[4Glory]

Oh sorry let me explain that quickly.
On your guitar, the strings are tunned to pitch in stardard tunning.
You read music so you know how to read tones and semi tones.
Each fret on your guitar represents one semitone, so its really easy to figuire out the ROOT of the chord you want to play. for example, my Low E string
the 1st fret is an F (because there is no such thing as an Esharpe)
the 2nd fret is an F#
the 3rd fret is a G (hence the G powerchrod starts on the 3rd fret and then use the pattern to complete it) so if I wanted to play, lets say a B powerchord, I could count all the way up my Low E string to the 7th fret, which is a B (remember that each fret is a semitone) and place the shape there.

The cool part is that you dont always have to start with the low E sting, you can play a B powerchord on the 2nd fret A string as well, and like you already know, 2semitones after an A is a B, and since the open string is tuneed to an "A" the 2nd fret ot the A string is a B....you follow me?
You'll get it in no time!