all i did was follow this.. http://developer.android.com/resources/tutorials/views/hello-tabwidget.html

to test it out and learn how to add icons, i just did exactly what step 3 says to do.
jumped to step 6 in the main.java class and added..

Resources res = getResources(); // Resource object to get Drawables

then changed

ts1.setIndicator("First Tab").setContent(new Intent(this,tab1.class));

to

ts1.setIndicator("First Tab",res.getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_tab_artists)).setContent(new Intent(this,tab1.class));

all it does is add ,res.getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_tab_artists) after "First Tab". works great!