like an open E chord:
|-0-| see how the numbers are stacked on each other.
|-0-| this means that they are played together in one
|-1-| picking stroke.
|-2-|
|-2-|
|-0-|
and if the tab looks like this-
|------0-| this means that they are played
|-----0--| individually in a down picking stroke.
|----1---| pick the notes slowly downwards and
|---2----| let all the notes ring together.
|--2-----|
|-0------|
and most of the time you'll find a tab that looks like this:
|-15-12--12--------------------------------------------------|
|-------15--15-12-15-12---12--------------------------------|
|------------------------14---14-12-14-12-------------------|
|------------------------------------------14-12-------------|
|------------------------------------------------14-12-------|
|------------------------------------------------------15-12-|
this tablature of notes is picked individually. they're not on top of each other
like a chords notes. it is a solo tab.
you can put these tabs together now. starting with the individually picked solo tab and on to the all-together picked chords tab!
this is mostly just basics. you'll find tabs that have symbles and letters here and there like:
|----------------------------------------------15h17h19/22b24~v-|
|-------------------------------------15h17h19-------------------|
|----------------------------14h15h17----------------------------|
|-------------------14h15h17-------------------------------------|
|----------12h14h15----------------------------------------------|
|-12h14h15-------------------------------------------------------|
the "h" stands for "hammer-on"s, the "/" stands for slide up, the "b" stands for
bend the note to the next note and the "~" and "v" are kinda the same, they
both mean vibrato the note. except "v" is more like a rapid vibrato and "~" is less rapid. ( more like smooth... ). i hope this helps.
btw-what brand/kind of guitar did you get?