SAMPLEDWhere Can You Find Guitar Tabs? Free and Paid Sites, Apps and Lessons
The best places to find guitar tabs online, from free community sites to licensed official transcriptions, plus how to tell a good tab from a bad one and free scale tabs to download.
Guitar tabs are the fastest way to learn a song. Instead of reading standard notation, you read six lines—one per string—and numbers that tell you which fret to play. The hard part isn't reading them. It's finding tabs that are actually accurate.
This guide covers the best places to find guitar tabs, free and paid, how to spot a bad tab, and free scale tabs from our own lessons that you can download right now.
What are the best free guitar tab sites?
- Ultimate Guitar (opens in a new tab) — The biggest tab library online, with user-submitted tabs and chord charts for almost any song. Many songs have several versions with ratings, so check the highest-rated one first. Some features require a paid Pro plan.
- Songsterr (opens in a new tab) — Interactive tabs that play back as you read, so you can hear the part while following along. Playback speed and other tools may require a subscription.
- Soundslice (opens in a new tab) — Tabs synced to real recordings and video. Many teachers publish lessons here, and the player lets you slow down and loop sections.
- JustinGuitar (opens in a new tab) — Free, structured beginner lessons with song tabs and chord sheets, built around a step-by-step course.
- IMSLP (opens in a new tab) — A massive free library of public-domain sheet music. Great for classical guitar pieces, though most of it is standard notation rather than tab.
Where can you buy official, licensed guitar tabs?
Free community tabs are written by fans and vary in quality. If you want the transcription the artist's publisher has approved, buy official tabs:
- Musicnotes (opens in a new tab) — Licensed digital sheet music and guitar tabs you can download and print, organized by song and artist.
- Hal Leonard (opens in a new tab) — One of the largest music publishers, with official guitar tab songbooks for countless artists and albums.
- Sheet Music Direct (opens in a new tab) — Hal Leonard's digital store for single-song downloads, including guitar tab arrangements.
Official tabs cost money, but they're usually the most accurate option, and buying them pays the songwriters.
How do you tell if a guitar tab is accurate?
Not every tab is right. Check for these signs:
- Ratings and comments. On community sites, a high rating with many votes is a good sign. Read the comments—people point out mistakes.
- Tuning listed. A good tab names the tuning (standard, drop D, half-step down). If the song sounds wrong, the tuning is often why.
- Capo noted. Many acoustic songs use a capo. A missing capo note can make every chord sound off.
- Rhythm included. The best tabs show rhythm or come with playback, so you know how long to hold each note.
- Your ears agree. Play along with the recording. If it doesn't match, trust the recording.
What are the best guitar tab apps?
Most of the big sites have their own apps. Ultimate Guitar and Songsterr both offer mobile apps with saved tabs and playback. If you write your own tabs, notation software such as Guitar Pro or the free MuseScore (opens in a new tab) lets you create, edit and play back tabs.
Where can you find free guitar scale tabs?
Song tabs teach you songs. Scale tabs teach you the neck, so you can write riffs, solo and figure out songs by ear. Here are four free extended-pattern scale tabs from our lessons. They all use the same shape at different frets, so learning one teaches you all four.
A natural minor (5th fret)
Download the A minor tab (JPEG) · Full lesson: How do you play the A minor scale on guitar?
B natural minor (7th fret)
Download the B minor tab (JPEG) · Full lesson: How do you play the B minor scale on guitar?
C natural minor (8th fret)
Download the C minor tab (JPEG) · Full lesson: How do you play the C minor scale on guitar?
E natural minor (12th fret)
Download the E minor tab (JPEG) · Full lesson: How do you play the E minor scale on guitar?
Diagrams: Robert Anthony / Sampled. Blue numbers mark each scale's root note.
How do you read a guitar tab?
- Six lines = six strings. The bottom line is the low E string, and the top line is the high e string.
- Numbers = frets. A 0 means play the string open. A 5 means press the 5th fret.
- Read left to right. Numbers stacked vertically are played together, like a chord.
- Common symbols: h = hammer-on, p = pull-off, b = bend, / or \ = slide, ~ = vibrato, x = muted note.
Can you make your own guitar tabs?
Yes. Transcribing songs by ear is one of the best ways to improve. Slow the song down, find the first note on one string, and write down fret numbers as you go. Notation programs like MuseScore can play your tab back so you can check it against the recording. Knowing your scales makes this much faster, because you'll know which notes are likely to come next.
FAQ
Are free guitar tab sites legal? Major sites like Ultimate Guitar and Songsterr operate licensing agreements with music publishers. If you want to be certain you're supporting songwriters, buy official tabs from licensed stores.
Are guitar tabs better than sheet music? Tabs are faster to learn for most guitarists because they show exactly where to play. Standard notation shows rhythm more precisely. Many official transcriptions include both.
What's the most accurate place to find tabs? Official publisher transcriptions from stores like Musicnotes and Hal Leonard are usually the most reliable. On free sites, check ratings and listen along.
Where can I find free scale tabs? Download our A, B, C and E minor extended-pattern tabs above, each with a full step-by-step lesson.