Reading Guitar Tab can be really easy. Guitar tab consists of lines, numbers, and accidentals. The lines represent the strings of the guitar. There is six lines, one for every string. The numbers represent the frets of the guitar. Accidentals are things like bends, trills, hammer-on's, and pull-off's. Accidentals, are ussually represented by letters or symbols. These symbols are usually defined in the tab.
Here is an example?
E-------------------------3------------
B---------------------3-6--------------
G---------------3-5-6------------------
D-----------3-5------------------------
A-----3-4-5----------------------------
E-3-6----------------------------------
This example is the "G" blues scale. Notice that the tab reads from right to left, and that the low "E" strings is on the bottom. All of the notes of the example are played separately.
Here is another example?
E--3----2----0----0--------------------
B--0----3----1----2--------------------
G--0----2----0----2--------------------
D--0----0----2----2--------------------
A--2---------3----0--------------------
E--3---------0-------------------------
This is an example of how the chords "G", "D", "C", and "A" would be written. Notice that the notes of the chord are written on top of each other, rather than next to each other. The zero's in the tab stand for open notes. This means you do not fret the string.
Here is an example of accidentals?
E-------|-------|--<7>-|-----|---------
B-------|-------|-<7>--|-----|---------
G--7b9r7|---9a.h|<7>---|-5tr7|-(7)-----
D-------|-------|------|-----|---------
A-------|-------|------|-----|---------
E-------|-------|------|-----|---------
The first example is of a bend. In the example the "b" represents a bend on the 7th fret of the "G" a whole step up to 9. The "r" tells you to release the bend. The second example is of and Artifical Harmonic, or a bitten harmonic. The 3rd example is one of the ways natural harmonics are tabbed. When reading my tabs I always indicat what the symbols represent in the tab. The 4th example is a trill. The last example is of a ghost note, or a grace note.