To start out, tabs are written in lines, each line representing a string on the guitar. The thickest string being the bottom most line and the thinnest string being the topmost.
e--------------------------------B--------------------------------G--------------------------------D--------------------------------A--------------------------------E--------------------------------
Numbers are then placed on these lines to represent finger positions on the guitar fret board. If you read the diagram below you would play this on a guitar by putting your finger just behind the 2nd fret on the 5th string (or the second thickest string). As musical notes this would read as follows B B B C# B A. The ‘zero’ represents playing an open string. So in this case you would play the A open with no finger position on the fretboard.
e-------------------------------B-------------------------------G-------------------------------D-------------------------------A--2--2--2--4--2--0----------E-------------------------------
