# Guitar tablature program recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653 "2019-09-04T00:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/1 "2019-09-04T00:05:19Z")
Anybody have any experience with tablature programs for PC machines? Pros and cons? Recommendations? I’ve got a four year pile of tab sheets that I’d like to get organized. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/2 "2019-09-04T01:04:44Z")
Are you asking about programs to **CREATE** tabs, or to **ORGANIZE** already created tabs? I have a little experience with the former but none with the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/3 "2019-09-04T01:11:11Z")
I don’t know if it still exists but I used to use Tabit. You could write in it and hear playback with some simple midi-type sounds. If you registered it (I think it used to be like $5) you could layer tracks, so you could tab out a full song. There was also a huge library of user transposed tabs. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/4 "2019-09-04T04:54:29Z")
What is a tablature program? You can use Lilypond (free software) to print music marked up with string numbers, fret diagrams, right-hand fingerings, etc. It’s free, it works. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/5 "2019-09-04T05:31:27Z")
I’ve had GuitarPro for a very long time, and it generally just works. It helps that I got all the tabs off one of the larger Guitar Pro tab sites just before someone purchased the site and made it pay-to-download - that was many years ago, though, so I don’t have a huge collection of modern tabs to learn. But that suits me just fine, and you can get off my lawn, too, whippersnapper. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/6 "2019-09-04T13:17:44Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > What is a tablature program? You can use Lilypond (free software) to print music marked up with string numbers, fret diagrams, right-hand fingerings, etc. It’s free, it works. For writing guitar tabs. If you don’t know what tabs are, I can’t really explain it to you here, but [this guy](https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-read-tab-and-chord-boxes-bc-108) can. **Mr. Bill** : for creating tabs. Copying all these sheets would take forever and some of them are pretty messy; some are loose leaf and some are in tab books. I think it would be less frustrating to just create new ones that are easier to read. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/7 "2019-09-04T14:43:40Z")
I use the free Tux Guitar: [http://www.tuxguitar.com.ar/](http://www.tuxguitar.com.ar/) I own Rocksmith and have purchased a fair number of the DLC. I then used the RocksmithtoTab tool to rip all the songs. I can then open them in Tux. There are often times I want to play the songs I learn in Rocksmith outside that environment, using my own amps, and this is the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/8 "2019-09-04T17:14:53Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > For writing guitar tabs. If you don’t know what tabs are, I can’t really explain it to you here, but [this guy](https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-read-tab-and-chord-boxes-bc-108) can. > > **Mr. Bill** : for creating tabs. Copying all these sheets would take forever and some of them are pretty messy; some are loose leaf and some are in tab books. I think it would be less frustrating to just create new ones that are easier to read. Then yes, you can do that via Lilypond using the TabStaff command, but it would still take forever since you basically have to type in each note. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/9 "2019-09-04T19:57:00Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Then yes, you can do that via Lilypond using the TabStaff command, but it would still take forever since you basically have to type in each note. Yeah, I’m still not sure it would be worth trying to do all the past tab sheets I have, but I could transcribe everything from this point onward fairly easily. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/10 "2019-09-04T20:37:39Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > I’ve had GuitarPro for a very long time, and it generally just works. > > It helps that I got all the tabs off one of the larger Guitar Pro tab sites just before someone purchased the site and made it pay-to-download - that was many years ago, though, so I don’t have a huge collection of modern tabs to learn. > > But that suits me just fine, and you can get off my lawn, too, whippersnapper. Downloaded the trial, but I can’t seem to get the program to create a tab staff, only music staffs. Lilypond seems quite ponderous (ha!) to use and more trouble than I care to go through, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-tablature-program-recommendations/839653/11 "2019-09-04T23:32:40Z")
I have some experience with MuseScore. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is pretty full-featured. The down-side of that is that there is a learning curve that can be a little laborious. It supports tabs done the way I like them, separate lines for traditional music notation and for guitar tablature. Not just guitar either. But, I never did figure out a proper way to deal with pick-up beats. It is free and pretty well-supported, so it costs you nothing but time to download and try it.