[NoobToPro]

Hi there.
I have decided to take up electric guitar.
As far as I know, all lead electric guitartist played songs mostly by fingerpicking right?
Hmm.. after reading lessons in this forum, what i wanna know is that when we fingerpick a particular song, how do we know which string to pull from a particular chord?
Cause when i search for tabs/chords in ultimate-guitar, it did not tell me T R I M (as taught by kirk's lesson) or P I M A (by fretsource lesson) in their tabs.
So how am i supose to know which string to pluck if its never stated?
Pleease help me in terms of words/images.
Thanks A LOT in advance.

[Rockerbob]

Most electric lead players do use a pick, but very few use tab. The vast majority of lead players, as well as all types of guitar players for that matter, learn on their own, from friends and from some lessons with notation or tab. I had been playing 25 years before I ever tried to read tab or notation.

It's usually wrong if you say "All players do..."

Talk to 10 players and get 10 different answers.

[cshude]

Originally Posted by NoobToPro

Hmm alright, so we use a pick to pluck for a electric lead guitartist.
I guess all electric lead guitartist needs to learn tabs?
For as far as I know, the number on the tabs refer to which fret right? So that means when it say 5 on a D string, it would means pressing the D string down at the 5th fret and picking out that D string.
But what happens when tabs like this?
e|--------------|
B|--------------|
G|--------13-12-|
D|-10-10--13-12-|
A|-10-10--11-10-|
E|-8--8---------|

10, 10, 8 on D,A,E string. I press string D, A on the 10th fret each and string E on the 8th fret and strum all the 3 strum down?
Then the 10-10-8 would means on down strum on all 3 string?
So after playing that 2 times, i would strum 1 times down on string G, D and A with string G and D pressed down at 13th fret and string A pressed down at 11th fret and strum another down strum?

That question was already addressed by Allthumbs, I believe. When you see the numbers in a vertical row, it is indicating that you play those together as a chord.

[NoobToPro]

Originally Posted by cshude

That question was already addressed by Allthumbs, I believe. When you see the numbers in a vertical row, it is indicating that you play those together as a chord.

So it will be played as a chord.
Then I have another question.
That will only be 1 strum? Or that will be the strum pattern for that song instead of only 1 strum?
Also, when i searched for tabs at ultimate-guitar, how do i determine which is for lead electric guitartist?

[cshude]

If you are playing TAB- you only play what is written- again, TAB relies on you knowing how the song is supposed to sound. Thus, in your example, you play the first power chord 2 times, then the next two once each.

Also, when you are playing rock songs, you generally aren't strumming, per se, like you would on many acoustic songs. Thus, there usually isn't a strum pattern. You'll still have chord progressions, etc, usually played by the rhythm guitarist and many times doubled by the lead guitarist when not soloing or doing fills (the little bits in between verses, choruses, etc.).

As far as how to search, it's a hit and miss thing. One thing I would urge you to do is to get GuitarPro or PowerTab (that one's free) and look for those files. They give you TAB and also musical notation- you can learn note for note by hearing it and seeing it played on the computer screen. You follow along, can control the speed, etc.

Hope that's helped.