What is Guitar Tab Viewer?

Guitar Tab Viewer renders guitar tablature notation so you can read and follow along with songs. Paste tab text or load examples, and see the tab displayed with proper formatting, scrolling playback, and tempo control.

Paste any standard six-line ASCII tab and the viewer parses it into measures, columns, and individual fretted notes. A scrolling cursor moves through the tab at your chosen tempo and plucks each note through the synth so you hear what you read. Three classic examples are preloaded for testing.

How to use

1. Step 1 — Paste guitar tab text into the editor (standard 6-line tab format with fret numbers).
2. Step 2 — The viewer renders the tab with proper spacing, string labels, and measure lines.
3. Step 3 — Use the playback controls to scroll through the tab at your chosen tempo for practice sessions.

When to use

• Practising a song at half tempo before bringing it up to performance speed.
• Checking a tab someone sent you before committing it to memory.
• Following along with the playback cursor when you can't read tab fluently yet.

Result

A guitarist pastes the intro tab for 'Smoke on the Water' (0-3-5, 0-3-6-5, 0-3-5-3-0), adjusts the tempo to 80 BPM, and follows the highlighted cursor as it scrolls through each measure.

FAQ

What tab format does the viewer accept?

Standard ASCII tab with six lines per group, dashes for spacing, and fret numbers on the lines. Bar lines are written as the pipe character. Anything else (chord names above the staff, lyrics, comments) gets stripped.

Why won't my tab parse?

The most common cause is missing strings. Each tab block needs exactly six lines, even if a string never plays. Add an all-dashes line for any silent string and the parser will accept it.

Can I export the tab as audio?

Not yet — the playback runs through a Web Audio synth in real time, but there's no record-to-file feature. You can screen-record the tab playing for a rough audio capture.

Why does the playback sound nothing like a real guitar?

The synth uses a simple oscillator to keep the tool fast and offline-capable. It is tuned for note recognition, not realism. For real guitar tone, play along yourself — switch on the built-in metronome so you stay locked to the beat while you do.

How fast can I push the tempo?

The slider goes from 40 to 240 BPM. Past about 200 the cursor moves faster than most guitarists can read, but the audio keeps up. Use the slider to learn riffs slowly before speeding up.

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