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First, let me say @mkjohnsons , I like long-winded people. That way, I know I won’t be criticized for being long-winded. 😂
As far as learning to play a cover song, there are a number of ways to do that and none of them are “wrong”. I have learned to play cover songs from the sheet music when I didn’t even know the song or had ever even heard it.
Generally, I would think we were talking about a song you know well enough to have an idea of how the melody goes. The tab will tell you what chords to play and link the words to the chords. I find it much easier to learn a song with singing the lyrics, because the lyrics tell me where I am in the song. I link chords and chord changes to the words I am singing. If you start off trying to sing and play at the same time, it will seem “normal”. But if you spend time learning the guitar “first” and try to sing with your playing after you have been playing long enough to reach some fluidity, you will think singing and playing is nearly impossible.
So let’s start there. If you ever want to sing and play together, do it from the beginning. The better someone is at playing guitar, the more reluctant they are to learn to sing along with their playing if they have never done it.
Second, playing the song from the tab until it is fairly familiar and then trying to play from memory is a fine idea. Tony has suggested we break it down into small chunks. Whatever size chunk you can bite off, play that until it’s pretty familiar. Then add the next chunk. There is no right or wrong way. Many people advocate learning to play songs by ear. If you can learn that way, you will be far ahead of the game.
Anyway, I think you are more than far enough along to try learning songs. I look forward to hearing your first attempt. I hope you will post it.
MG 😀