Need Some Help With Reading This Tab

Basically just a bunch of powerchords:

Verse: F#5 E5 D5 E5
Chorus: A5 E5 F#5 D5

How to play them: Play the root note (the lowest note) with your index finger. Play the other two using one of these ways:

1) ring and pinky
2) both using just the ringfinger
3) both using just the pinky.

Thank you very much Arjen for your reply...However I'm kind of confused. Like I said, I'm really new and I'm sorry to bother you guys with such silly questions. I'm probably going to annoy you, but I'm still not sure I understand exactly what to do...I'm not sure how you could better explain it...I just don't quite understand

Eric, Welcome to GN.

Ok those are simple Power Chords.

Index on the six string 2nd Fret.. Ring Finger Barred on the 4th/5th string 4th Fret.

Your 6th String being the LOW E or the largest String or the ONE Closest to your Chest.. the 1st string being the one closest to the floor or the HIGH E

Your strings are Going from Top to bottom or 6 to 1.. DOWN as in STRUM DOWN... are...E-A-D-G-B-E right?

I remebered this by saying
Every
Adult
Dog
Growls
Barks
Eats

Hence

E---------------------------
B---------------------------
G---------------------------
D-4-----------------4--4---
A-4-----------------4--4---
E-2-----------------2--2---

That is a F#5 Chord or F# Power Chord.

When you see it twice it means you hit/strum that chord twice. As for the others Their Root is on the 5th String -vs- the 6th string as in the one above.

Its the same shape.. Index on the 5th String....Ring finger on the Others.. GET IT? If not thats OK Keep Trying.

3rd Edit...LOL

Eric: What have you already learned? Do you know what chords are? Can you play some open chords? If not, then that might really be a good way to start. When you're starting out it's always nice to have a somewhat structured approach to guitar, you might really benefit from contacting a guitar teacher or finding a good book. If you don't things can get terribly frustrating and you definitely want to prevent that.

And welcome to GN indeed. Don't feel bad for asking beginner questions in the beginner forum. That's kinda what it is for. :)

I don't know if Arjen saw the video.....the chords he gave you are correct as tabbed, but it looks and sounds as if he's playing pretty close to the neck with a capo on the 2md fret, and it looks as though he's playing full chords rather than powerchords (basically, playing either 2 or 3 strings using just the root and fifth notes of the chord.)

Now with that capo on the second fret, to play F# E D and E, you'd play E D C and D chords....and to play A E F# and D, you'd play G D E and C chords.

Without the capo, you could play the chords like this:

E A D G B E
2 4 4 3 2 2 - F#
0 2 2 1 0 0 - E
x x 0 3 2 3 - D
x 0 2 2 2 0 - A

Hope this helps......

:D :D :D

Vic

wow.thank you everyone for the quick replies and the help..I deeply appreciate it...I noticed on the video that he does seem to be playing close to the neck..I'm wondering what I should do now...I'm not sure what this means:

E A D G B E
2 4 4 3 2 2 - F#
0 2 2 1 0 0 - E
x x 0 3 2 3 - D
x 0 2 2 2 0 - A

Dagwood and Arjen...could you watch the video adn tell me what you think..

thanks again EVERYONE for the generosity

I wish I wasn't having so much trouble...I can't get it sound anything like his...ARRGGHH

Matt,

What Arjen Said... Do you know any Open Chords? He's using them in this video.

Do you have a CAPO? If not you won't sound like him but you can still play the same chords..

What Vic noted are FULL CHORDS.

The F# Chord is a Barre Chord......the most direct way to make a Full F#
E A D G B E
2 4 4 3 2 2 - F#

You Barre all six strings with your 2nd finger, then make an E Chord Shape with your other three fingers.... not so easy for beginners.

But the Power Chord for an F# is
E A D G B E
2 4 4 x x x - F#

The X means you don't play those strings.
The other Chords:

E A D G B E
0 2 2 1 0 0 - E - Chord
x x 0 3 2 3 - D - Chord
x 0 2 2 2 0 - A - Chord

are all open chords.. meaning you play some strings as Open or NOT Fretted as in the E chord both the E Strings and the B Strings are not fretted....hence Open and yet still strummed.

If You still don't get what the numbers mean...

The E Chord for example means.. You fret the 2nd Fret on the 4th and 5th strings and the 1st fret on the 3rd String.. your 1st/2nd and 6th String are not fretted so they're OPEN...

LIke wise on the D and A Chords...

Again the XX's mean you don't strum those strings. These are 3 of the Basic Open Chords that you need to know.

However, when he CAPO's the 2nd Fret it now becomes the new NUT but you play it like it is Written... or Tabbed..

Capo on the second Fret, but play that first F# Chord 2 frets from the Capo but its really the 4th Fret on the guitar.. and you play the 4th/5th strings 4 frets from the Capo or on the 6th Fret on the Guitar....make sense?

So It looks like this:

E A D G B E
2 4 4 3 2 2 - F# Standard

2 2 2 2 2 2 CAPO
4 6 6 5 4 4 -Same Chord Shape as above

Or if you will:
Standard with Capo on the 2nd Fret
E------- 2 ------------||------------4-----
B------- 3 ------------||------------5-----
G------- 4 ------------||------------6-----
D------- 4 ------------||------------6-----
A------- 2 ------------||------------4-----
E------- 2 ------------||------------4-----

No Worries about asking dumb questions, cuz their not.. the only dumb question is the one that isn't asked....but I do enourage you to read the beginners lesson here at GN if you haven't done so already. There is so much information here that most my questions these days are easily answered with a little time and research.

Good Luck. :D :D :D :D :D

He is definately playing open chords there, with a capo on the second fret.

I do not wish to confuse Matt any further, but I disagree with the chords that have been posted so far.

After watching the video (quite a lot), I can deinately see a Cadd9 and a G chord in there.

This is what I played, and it sounded pretty close to me

(p.s. Matt, there is also a lot of palm-muting in the verses as well, this is where you strum all the strings but place your strumming hand on the strings straight away to produce little to no actual noise. I would definately say that you should find some more resources and not get hung up on one song, that isn't as easy as it seems! PPS David Hodge's lessons here at GN are great, give them a try)

Also you should check out http://www.chordfind.com just choose which chord you want and it will show you how to play it.

OK so I believe that these are the chords needed for the song, I'm going to tab the song completely as its quite long with lots of changes.

E/D (022130)
Two
D (xx0232)
days
G (320033)
chasing me around
E/D
I
D-G
go
Cadd9 (x32033)
crazy when
E/D
you're
D-G-Cadd9
outside of my world
E/D-D-G-Cadd9
when you're outside of my world
E/D-D-G
no sounds
Cadd9
singing me to sleep
E/D-D-G
I don't
Cadd9
want the room to breathe
E/D-D-G-Cadd9
Just be with me...
E/D-D-Cadd9
Just be with me!!!

[Chorus]
G-D-E/D-A (x02220)
I feel 40 kinds of sadness when you're gone.
G-D-E/D-A
I feel the same thing always happens when you're gone
G-D-E/D-A
And I know you're just around the corner
G-D-E/D-A
But just around the corner is not enough
G-D-E/D-A-G-D-E/D-A
It's not enough, eww... is not enough

E/D-D-G
My eyes
Cadd9
are waiting at the door
E/D-D-G
Just like
Cadd9
every time before
E/D-D-G-Cadd9
Time flies so slow...
E/D-D-Cadd9
Time flies so slow!!!

[Chorus]
G-D-E/D-A
I feel 40 kinds of sadness when you're gone.
G-D-E/D-A
I feel the same thing always happens when you're gone
G-D-E/D-A
And I know you're just around the corner
G-D-E/D-A
But just around the corner is not enough
D-A-G
It's not enough
D-A-G-D-A-G
It's not enough, I don't know why
D-A-G
It's not enough, I miss you all the time
F (133211)-D-A-G
And I know you kind of like it.

[Chorus]
pause... E/D-D-A-D
I feel... yea... 40 kinds of sadness when you're gone.
G-D-E/D-A
I feel 40 kinds of sadness when you're gone.
G-D-E/D-A
I feel the same thing always happens when you're gone
G-D-E/D-A
I know you're just around the corner
G-D-E/D-A
but just around the corner is not enough
G-D-E/D-A
just around the corner is not enough
G-D-E/D-A
just around the corner is not enough
G-D-E/D-A
I know just around the corner is not enough
G-D-A-D-G
I know just around the corner is not enough


I think that since you're having trouble reading tab and playing a song right now you should concentrate just on learning the basic open position chords. there's a lot of info on this site and lots of other sites, or you can get a beginners book...Mel Bay or some other. You'll get used to playing the chords and you'll get used to sing them written out and then playing songs will start to make more sense to you.

Good luck.

The basic open position chords to lear first are CAGED.

thank you all very much for your input...I'm starting to learn more and more...I appreciate all the help..what a great community...

could someone tell me what this means:
E/D (022130)

Where would fingers go?

THANKS

E/D means you are playing an E-major chord, but the lowest note is not an E as it usually is with E-chords, but an D. So basically you are playing an E7/D, because the D is the seventh note.

C/G means a C-major chord with a G in the bass.
Am/E means an A-minor chord with an E in the bass etc.

(022130)

How you play it: middlefinger on the 5th string, ringfinger on the 4th string, index on the 3rd string, pinky on the 2nd string. Please note that this is *not* an easy chord by any means of the word, espescially for beginners. I can see this chord taking up many, many hours before you can fluently play it. An easier version would be [x x 0 1 0 0], just leave the 5th and 6th string alone, put a finger on the first fret 3rd string and hit the first few strings. Much easier, same chord, somewhat different feeling.

To complicate things further: The chords he gave you aren't really correct. If [0 2 2 1 3 0] is supposed to be a E/D then he is playing with a so-called 'drop D-tuning', which means the 6th string is tuned lower then you'd normally do. This also goes for his D chord, which is a Dadd9/E in regular tuning. His G-chord is even weirder, as it uses the normal tuning but contains two notes normally not found in the G-chord, the F# and C# on the 1st and 2nd string. If this is indeed in normal tuning this would be a Gmaj7/add11#, in drop-D it would be a Gmaj7/add11#/F (which is crap because it has both a 7 and 7b in it). Most likely this was just a harmless typo, and he means [3 2 0 0 3 3]. So, assuming you have a standard-tuned guitar, this would suffice:

E7/D [x x 0 1 0 0]
D [x x 0 2 3 2]
G [x x 0 0 0 0]

But this is *way* too much theory for a beginner, really, no matter how determined or talented you are .I really strongly suggest starting out with easier songs, with more common chords, simpler rhythms and less complicated structures. Check this out: https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/horse-with-no-name/ Songs like this will have you learn one or two new, and relatively easy, chords. This way you can more easily concentrate on things like changing chords, counting the beat and strumming correctly, which is much harder if you're playing tough chords. Once you've nailed that lesson you can find many more here: https://www.guitarnoise.com/topics/easy-guitar-songs/

WHOOPS!

Sorry about that guys, my G chord was written wrong, as was my Cadd9 I noticed. I have fixed them now.
Boy is my face red! :oops:

In answer to Arjen's comment

"If [0 2 2 1 3 0] is supposed to be a E/D then he is playing with a so-called 'drop D-tuning', which means the 6th string is tuned lower then you'd normally do. This also goes for his D chord, which is a Dadd9/E in regular tuning"

I am not brilliant at naming chords I don't always know, so I apologise if some of the names are incorrect, however I am pretty sure that what I wrote sounds right, even if I named the chords wrong! I just tried to follow the vid.

And I agree, Matt this is WAY WAY too much for a beginner to be gettting into. I know it can be frustrating when you want to play a song, but you really do need to sort out the basics first. Put this song in a file somewhere and look at it in due time.

Sorry again for any confustion caused, :oops:

Pete

I am not brilliant at naming chords I don't always know, so I apologise if some of the names are incorrect, however I am pretty sure that what I wrote sounds right, even if I named the chords wrong! I just tried to follow the vid.

Well, it's more interpretation then anything. It's an E-major chord, and it's a D in the bass. Now if the D is a main part of the total chord sound it would be a E7/D, if it is just there for a bassrun (example: Em-Dm/F-G) then you'd notate it as E/D. And I'm sure you have people who name chords on other principles. It doesn't matter that much, the key part is indeed that it sounds right. It's music, not college. :D