Help me understand this guitar tab.

[Vegitto]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/n/nirvana/polly_ver3_tab.htm. I don't get it. What's the 'x' mean? And when it doesn't say anything on the tab (ie, '-'), should I play it at all?

 

[Super56K]

I don't know the song, but it's either a palm mute or just muting the strings with your fretting hand.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: Super56K
I don't know the song, but it's either a palm mute or just muting the strings with your fretting hand.

Uh, what now?

 

[Noema]

The 'xxx's represent what is called 'raking'. Like Super56k said, they mean you should use your fretting hand to 'mute' the strings instead of fretting actual notes. Then you pick the notes with your right hand to create a 'chk-chk', rythmic sound.

Just hold your fretting hand close enough to the strings so that you prevent them from ringing when struck but not hard enough as to actually fret the notes. You can do it anywhere on the neck, it doesn't really matter since you are not really playing any notes.

Another example of this in a song would be (also) Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'; during the heavy riff you can hear the 'chik-chik' Rythms between the power chords.

I'm at my parents house right now and I don't have my guitar with me; otherwise I would record some clips with examples for you as this is a bit hard to explain with words. But listen to 'Smells like Teen Spirit' to see what I mean.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: Noema
The 'xxx's represent what is called 'raking'. Like Super56k said, they mean you should use your fretting hand to 'mute' the strings instead of fretting actual notes. Then you pick the notes with your right hand to create a 'chk-chk', rythmic sound.

Just hold your fretting hand close enough to the strings so that you prevent them from ringing when struck but not hard enough as to actually fret the notes. You can do it anywhere on the neck, it doesn't really matter since you are not really playing any notes.

Another example of this in a song would be (also) Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'; during the heavy riff you can hear the 'chik-chik' Rythms between the power chords.

I'm at my parents house right now and I don't have my guitar with me; otherwise I would record some clips with examples for you as this is a bit hard to explain with words. But listen to 'Smells like Teen Spirit' to see what I mean.

Shouldn't I hold the pick with my non-fretting hand? How can I strike a string with a finger when I'm holding a pick? I'm really bad at this .

 

[CraKaJaX]

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: Noema
The 'xxx's represent what is called 'raking'. Like Super56k said, they mean you should use your fretting hand to 'mute' the strings instead of fretting actual notes. Then you pick the notes with your right hand to create a 'chk-chk', rythmic sound.

Just hold your fretting hand close enough to the strings so that you prevent them from ringing when struck but not hard enough as to actually fret the notes. You can do it anywhere on the neck, it doesn't really matter since you are not really playing any notes.

Another example of this in a song would be (also) Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'; during the heavy riff you can hear the 'chik-chik' Rythms between the power chords.

I'm at my parents house right now and I don't have my guitar with me; otherwise I would record some clips with examples for you as this is a bit hard to explain with words. But listen to 'Smells like Teen Spirit' to see what I mean.

Shouldn't I hold the pick with my non-fretting hand? How can I strike a string with a finger when I'm holding a pick? I'm really bad at this .

You do hold the pick with your non-fretting hand... use your fret hand to mute the strings that you're being told to mute. Like Noema said, close enough to the string so you stop it from sounding the note, but not hard enough to play the actual note.

 

[mrrman]

oh...I thought that it meant that the note was held for another beat...I am learning to..

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: Noema
The 'xxx's represent what is called 'raking'. Like Super56k said, they mean you should use your fretting hand to 'mute' the strings instead of fretting actual notes. Then you pick the notes with your right hand to create a 'chk-chk', rythmic sound.

Just hold your fretting hand close enough to the strings so that you prevent them from ringing when struck but not hard enough as to actually fret the notes. You can do it anywhere on the neck, it doesn't really matter since you are not really playing any notes.

Another example of this in a song would be (also) Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'; during the heavy riff you can hear the 'chik-chik' Rythms between the power chords.

I'm at my parents house right now and I don't have my guitar with me; otherwise I would record some clips with examples for you as this is a bit hard to explain with words. But listen to 'Smells like Teen Spirit' to see what I mean.

Shouldn't I hold the pick with my non-fretting hand? How can I strike a string with a finger when I'm holding a pick? I'm really bad at this .

He explained it really well, reread it.
Use your fretting hand to lightly hold the strings without pressing down hard enough to produce a sound when strummed. If you go quickly up with the strumming hand while holding the strings withthe fretting hand in that kind of position you will get the palm-mute sound.

 

[kogase]

The dashes on the tab are just representing lines, like in sheet music.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: Noema
The 'xxx's represent what is called 'raking'. Like Super56k said, they mean you should use your fretting hand to 'mute' the strings instead of fretting actual notes. Then you pick the notes with your right hand to create a 'chk-chk', rythmic sound.

Just hold your fretting hand close enough to the strings so that you prevent them from ringing when struck but not hard enough as to actually fret the notes. You can do it anywhere on the neck, it doesn't really matter since you are not really playing any notes.

Another example of this in a song would be (also) Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'; during the heavy riff you can hear the 'chik-chik' Rythms between the power chords.

I'm at my parents house right now and I don't have my guitar with me; otherwise I would record some clips with examples for you as this is a bit hard to explain with words. But listen to 'Smells like Teen Spirit' to see what I mean.

Shouldn't I hold the pick with my non-fretting hand? How can I strike a string with a finger when I'm holding a pick? I'm really bad at this .

He explained it really well, reread it.
Use your fretting hand to lightly hold the strings without pressing down hard enough to produce a sound when strummed. If you go quickly up with the strumming hand while holding the strings withthe fretting hand in that kind of position you will get the palm-mute sound.

Strumming..? Please, explain in laymens terms. I got this thing 12 days ago.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: Noema
The 'xxx's represent what is called 'raking'. Like Super56k said, they mean you should use your fretting hand to 'mute' the strings instead of fretting actual notes. Then you pick the notes with your right hand to create a 'chk-chk', rythmic sound.

Just hold your fretting hand close enough to the strings so that you prevent them from ringing when struck but not hard enough as to actually fret the notes. You can do it anywhere on the neck, it doesn't really matter since you are not really playing any notes.

Another example of this in a song would be (also) Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'; during the heavy riff you can hear the 'chik-chik' Rythms between the power chords.

I'm at my parents house right now and I don't have my guitar with me; otherwise I would record some clips with examples for you as this is a bit hard to explain with words. But listen to 'Smells like Teen Spirit' to see what I mean.

Shouldn't I hold the pick with my non-fretting hand? How can I strike a string with a finger when I'm holding a pick? I'm really bad at this .

He explained it really well, reread it.
Use your fretting hand to lightly hold the strings without pressing down hard enough to produce a sound when strummed. If you go quickly up with the strumming hand while holding the strings withthe fretting hand in that kind of position you will get the palm-mute sound.

Strumming..? Please, explain in laymens terms. I got this thing 12 days ago.

the up and down movement of your hand which holds the pick.

 

[pulse8]

You should really take some lessons so you know the basics.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: pulse8
You should really take some lessons so you know the basics.

I'm basically very, very poor. I got this guitar for a bargain. I really couldn't pay for lessons.

 

[Mutilator]

http://guitar.about.com/ or similar sites may help you learn the basics.