The Guitar Tabs Universe, in this day of everyone being a Guitar Hero, is one often maligned as being in the same camp as chords. Two different beast, really. You see, a typical chord that you see the mom playing on TV with her kids as she plays the popular video game, is simply a process of memorizing patterns that sound melodic when combined with the other instruments. Very nice, but tabs are a different variety of playing the guitar as they usually are much more detailed an specific in their behavior as you learn them. Your being taken seriously as a true Guitar Hero will require that you will have a pretty clear concept of how tabs operate.

Another huge benefit of playing tabs as opposed to chords is that it will truly ramp up your guitar playing to more than a casual player of a video game; it will put you in the camp as a serious student of the instrument. Like any student of any musical instrument, having a concept of the core disciplines that make that instrument truly engaging, the discipline of learning tabs will give you more of an appreciation of the guitar.

There are many fine resources on the internet that guide you, both free and paid, but of the resources that have helped me from a personal standpoint are the ones I have invested in as they usually have a better detail of what I am seeking to learn.

In any program that you choose, you want one that will offer several different ways to tab a song and offer a variety, as well. The better the instruction for a visual standpoint, I have found, works better for most as we are visual creatures, by in large. We simply learn better watching than reading a manual of some kind.

In any program you choose, be a student of tabs over chords, as they will come on their own when you learn the essence of the tab universe.