hey guys, wats and 'X' on tabs mean????

hey guys! jst joined this cool site. yeh im a newbie and i know that an 'X' means 'hammer on' or something but i cant get the right sound out. do u tap it or wat? any help much appreciated cos im trying to play john mayers 'your body is a wonderland' hehe. ta

usually means to mute the strings

you probaly see alot of X's in nirvana tabs, or other punk tabs

so just lay your hand flat on the fretboard and strum and thats the screachy choppy sound thats usually connected to a bunch of X's on tabs

yep thanks Wizard. but when i place my hand flat on the fretboard, does it cover the separators as well? and wat if, say, the Xs are jst on the first three top strings? then would i jst cover those 3 and strum?

yes, X's are muted strings

X's are strings muted by fretting hand , which means laying the fretting hand over the specified strings without fretting them.

If you're playing blues, punk rock or so , just lay your fretting hand , making sure that each of the specified strings are covered with more than one finger , hopefully at the widest distance possible to avoid making harmonic sounds (unless the harmonic sound is what you want, like in ozzy osbourne's "crazy train").

If you're playing heavy metal (metallica, megadeth) you may also need to palm mute with your picking hand sometimes too , to get that heavy sound.

true! cheers guys. im loving the guitar hehe