Rather than read sheet music, most guitarists read “tabs.” Tabs are music written out for the guitar by string and fret. Tabs can be simple, one note at a time; or, they can be very complex with multiple notes being played simultaneously. We’ll start off here with the basics of how to read a tab.

The standard tuning on a guitar is E-A-D-G-B-e. That means from the top (thickest/bass string) to the bottom (thinest/highest) string, the strings are tuned EADGBe. Both the first and sixth string are both tuned to ‘E’, so a lowercase ‘e’ is used on the higher string to differentiate the string we’re talking about.

A basic tab sheet will look like this:

e———————————
B———————————
G———————————
D———————————
A———————————
E———————————

Now, any number that shows up on the tab indicates what note to be playing on that string. For instance, if there is:

e–7————————-
B—-5———————–

…then you would play the 7th fret of the high ‘e’ string, then the 5th fret of the ‘B’ string.

Try this one:

e—0-0-7-7-9-9-7—–5-5-4-4-2-2-0——————-
B———————————————————
G———————————————————
D———————————————————
A———————————————————
E———————————————————

That should sound like “Twinkle, Twinkle”.

Eventually, you’ll be playing:

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———————————————————————-

E—————————————————————————
B—5——-8——-7——-10———8—–8—8—–8—–8—8——-
G——-0——-0——-0——-0———-0——-0——-0——-0—-
D—————————————————————————
A—3——-4——-5——-6———-7——-7——-6——-6———-
E—————————————————————————

That’s “Blackbird” by The Beatles. Now, that may look intimidating now, but you’ll be able to play that much sooner than you think. I only post that tab so you have something to shoot for, sort of as a measuring stick. When you can play “Blackbird”, you’ve got a decent grasp on playing tabs.

In the meantime, there are plenty of websites that offer guitar tabs, so pick some of your favorite tunes and give it a go. There will be plenty of songs too advanced to start with, but make note of them, and periodically check back to see if you can play them yet. It’s a good way to keep track of your progress. You may want to play a song now, but it looks like it’s in another language, then, six months from now you can cruise right through it.

For tabs, there are lots of sites, but I recommend:
Ultimate Guitar
tTabs
911 Tabs

There are obviously more like this, but these are all good. Of course, you can buy tab books from your local music store as well. This is a good way to get a good selection of music in the genre you like, and you can play without having to sit in front of a computer.

Tabs take some time to fully grasp. But if you’re not just playing chords, they are the best way to learn how to play a song on the guitar. Take your time and play each note. Then, when you get comfortable with when to play each note, you can speed up your play to the tempo of the song.