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Like a soldier's rifles and boots, you guitar is the single most important bit of kit to you. Even by this stage, you've probably played around with the switches and dials on it and have a rough idea of how it works. If you're pretty handy like myself, you may want to poke around inside to see how it's made. Try attaching the whammy bar (if it has one) and seeing how rough you can be with it. See how far you can bend those strings with your fingers. Just don't break anything yet!

When learning, it is imperative the guitar is properly tuned. If you're near tone deaf like me, you'll be wise to get an electronic tuner. These little gadgets always get it spot on and save you a lot of time. With a good digital guitar tuner you may never need to know the order of the Standard Tuning notes or which notes they are, just accept them as what they are. If however you do want to play with different tuning in the future there are several ways to remember the order. One popular mnemonic is 'Every Bible Gets Dusty After Easter', referring to the notes from thinnest (first) string to the fattest (6th). Coincidently, a bass guitar will use the same tuning as your top 4 strings - just a lot lower.

There's nothing wrong with changing the tuning to something else on your guitar. Musicians may choose to change their tuning to make certain songs easier to play or to achieve notes standard tuning doesn't allow. All the tabs on this site are written for standard tuning so if you decide to start playing around, remember to adjust the numbers on the tablature accordingly.

You may find the fingers on your left hand (if you play right handed) hurt while playing, especially on that little E string - I certainly did. You'll soon start noticing calluses on the tips of your fingers. That's your body turning you into an extraordinary guitarist! You'll soon feel nothing but smooth vibes travelling up the strings. As the skin thickens you'll also start noticing other things like your hammer-ons ringing louder. Once, being my usual clumsy self, I managed to run a knife along the tip of my finger while cutting vegetables. Had I not played the guitar, it could have been quite bloody!

It's not only your fingertips which will adapt. You'll also find your fingers get stronger allowing you to move faster, hit harder and stretch further. That's why it's good to learn some challenging scales. They force you to use all your fingers and stretch far. If you get faster at playing a scale while hitting every note just right - you know you're getting better!

Here comes the cliché: Practice Makes Perfect. The reason some phrases become clichéd is because they're true. Unfortunately, we just can't pick up a guitar for the first time and start shredding. Sure, some of the best guitarist are very talented but they have also practised to no end. While Alex van Halen was out getting laid every night, Eddie van Halen was sat at the end of his bed playing his guitar. Think of it as an investment!

Here's a quick run down of tablature (tab for short) for those who don't know how to read it just yet. It comes in all sorts of forms, some with accurate timing and different symbols. On this site at least, I've kept it very simple as I'm sure you're capable of listening to the song and working out the timing yourself.

We'll use Van Halen's Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love intro riff to get to grips with how tab is used. While it might look like an odd form of Morse Code, it in fact gives us a rough idea of how the song is played. You'll notice various letters in a vertical column. These represent the tuning of each of the strings from thinnest at the top (first string) to fattest (6th) at the bottom. Some tabs will leave this notation out but you can bet it is in this order, unless specified otherwise.

Running parallel to these letters are what appear to be dotted lines. Ignoring the numbers and symbols for now, the lines represent the strings. Like how we read Western texts left to right like we read tab the same way. Think of it as a time line. Moving along all the lines at once we'll hit a number. In the above example it's zero. Note what line it is on - this is the string we play. The number represents where your left hand (if you play right-handed) should fret that string. In this case, it's a zero so we play the string open. Next we have a two on the 4th string, D. We therefore fret this string on the second fret and play the string.

If we keep doing this with the right timing, lo and behold we hear a tune. Fretting one string at a time is obviously inefficient so we fret several strings at once. Certain combinations of fretted strings make chords. In this example, the riff is made from three chords. The point at which they change is shown running along the top of the tab. Here we're using A minor, F major and a form of G major. By changing between these chord forms on the fretboard, we only have to move our hands three times, in theory.

In this example however, we have a tide mark (~). This is one of several notations which can be found on guitar tab. The rest can be found with their explanation in the key section. The tide mark essentially means, wiggle this string. The proper term is vibrato. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as tremolo.

With practice you'll begin to learn to play these tabs by heart. Once you can play them accurately and at the right speed, you're ready to try something harder or modify them.

Don't be afraid of complicated-looking tabs. Weird symbols and lots of numbers might seem daunting but it is usually a wolf in sheep's clothing. Just start playing it right, then worry about the tempo - it'll come with time.