Using your search engine of choice, type in "free guitar tablature."
A list of sites will appear; just about any of them will contain free tablature. Choose a site and click on it to search its database of tablature.
Look for a search field--most guitar tablature sites have a search field on the main page. Type in the name of the artist or song you want to search.
Most tablature sheets will be for guitar, but some sites will include bass tablature as well. Ensure that the tablature has six strings.
Each line on a tab sheet represents a guitar string: e, B, G, D, A, E. The lower-case e represents the high E string. Numbers represent frets.
If you see the number 3 on the A string, place your finger on the third fret and play the note: am octave below middle C. Similarly, the number 5 on the D string represents G.
Numbers placed vertically even with one another represent notes that should be played simultaneously, most often used to play a chord. Tabbed chords, when outside the tab, are written as a string of numbers corresponding to their respective strings: a C chord, for example, would be written as 01023x. X indicates an unplayed string, and 0 indicates an open string. An A minor chord would be written as 0122xx.
Hammer-ons refer to playing a note on one fret, then pressing a higher fret on the same string without picking. In tablature, if you see 7h9, play the 7th fret, then, while still holding the fret, press a finger on the 9th fret.
Pull-offs are the opposite--you press both frets, then release the higher fret to sound the lower note. In guitar tablature, 9p7 indicates playing the 9th fret while pressing the 7th, then releasing the 9th.
The letter 'b' after a fret number means to bend the string as the note sounds. This will raise the pitch. Some tablature will have a destination pitch to match with string bending. The letter 'r' translates to releasing the string.
Listen to the song recording to help with rhythm. According to Guitar Players' Toolbox, basic tablature found online often provides few or no instructions for the song's rhythm.