Sheet music (sometimes called notation) and guitar tabs are the two most common forms of music written on paper for beginner guitar players to use. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide which of the two to go with, and there are pros and cons to going with either. Before anyone decides, but particularly a beginner, it is important to understand the difference between "easy guitar tabs" and "easy sheet music." The differences are profound, but there's more to it than that.
Easy guitar tabs are all about notes and chords, strings and frets. To read an easy guitar tab, which usually works only for stringed instruments, a simple diagram is used. Six horizontal lines have a number on one of them. The line it is on is which string of the guitar to hold down, while the number on the line represents in which fret the string needs to be held down in.
Sheet music is much different from easy guitar tabs. Sheet music is made up of five lines with four spaces, and notes like whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc in there somewhere. Where the notes are located determines which note it is. For example, if the note was in the space between the upper two lines, it would be an F.
Sheet music has its benefits as well as does the easy guitar tabs. Sheet music is good for virtually any instrument that has distinctive notes that can be played, so any guitar player that plans to play other instruments later should definitely take the time to learn it. Easy guitar tabs help beginners learn that different notes have different hand placements, and associate them with each other. Guitar tabs teach the note and how to play the note.
Sheet music compared to easy guitar tabs is like night and day compared to how easy it is to read. Sheet music is much more difficult, and this is one of the first reasons people give up on the guitar when they become confused about sheet music. Easy guitar tabs are simpler to learn to read and very bountiful, but once the beginner player becomes an expert player, he/she may find trouble finding guitar tabs for harder songs. It is generally recommended to use easy guitar tabs as one is learning and learning to read sheet music as a side effort for future use.