Free Guitar Tabs

The Usefulness of Guitar Tabs

Have you ever listened to one of your favorite songs and wished you knew how to play it? Maybe it was a rocking solo that really grabbed your attention, or it could have been an awesome bass line that hooked you the first time you heard it. Whatever it was, if you have the desire to learn that song, you're going to have to figure it out one way or another.

Some guitarists are quite adept at reading standard musical notation, and in cases like this, finding guitar sheet for the song in question is usually a straightforward way to learn the music. However, some guitar players actually don't read standard notation, so they wind up taking another route to learn a piece. For many, it becomes a matter of listening to the song over and over while picking out each note and chord on their instrument until they have what they feel is the complete song. If you like doing this for yourself, you probably don't mind writing everything down and sharing it with other musicians. People who make a hobby out of this are generally referred to as "tabbers", and their creations are called guitar tabs.

On the other hand, if you don't relish putting this much energy into working out the song on your own, you can probably appreciate the scores of free guitar tabs available to you from various sources.

Finding Free Guitar Tabs

Tab Trades

If you have friends who also play the guitar, there's a good chance that at least one of them tabs. If you're lucky, this is a great way to get diagrams for new songs. If you happen to do a bit of tabbing yourself, you can also trade song tabs with other players so you both get something out of the bargain.

Free Tabs Online

The Internet age has proven a real boon for music lovers, and guitarists are no exception. Being able to use a computer keyboard has taken a lot of the tedium out of tabbing, and it has also made those tabs readily available through numerous websites. Here are a few for your consideration.

• MXTabs.net: MXTabs bills itself as the first Internet tab website legitimately licensed to offer free guitar tabs. The site states that it will only post tabs if the original composer/performer responsible for creating the song gives express MX permission to post tab versions. MXTabs also compensates these artists for their work. The site is organized by band, and once you find the artist you're looking for you can see which song tabs are available. The collection at MX is not as large as some websites, but it's likely to grow considering the company's fair policy toward the artists.

• GuitarMasta.net: GuitarMasta is another useful resource for guitar tabs, and you can read them for free. The selection here is larger than MXTabs, so you're more likely to find the song you're looking for. Bands are listed alphabetically, and the links lead to a collection of their songs. Some tabs are definitely more accurate than others, but you can get an idea of what other guitarists thought of the tabbers' work by checking out the five star rating system on every song page.

• Ultimate-Guitar.com: This website offers one of the largest collections of guitar tabs on the Internet. Most of the tabs are offered for free and easily accessed. However, if you want to use one of the tabs marked "Guitar Pro" you'll need to install the Guitar Pro Tab software you can download at the site. This tool will also help you create high quality tabs if you're into transcribing your own. This site also gives you the option to search by song title or band.

• ChristianGuitarResource.org This website offers free chords and guitar tabs for many contemporary Christian tunes. Tabs are sorted by band and then by song.

• TabCountry.com: You'll find plenty of songs from your favorite country artists of yesterday and today at TabCountry. Although most of the songs only come with chords and lyrics, a few have a bit of tablature to go with them. Search by artist to see what is offered.

Sharing Your Own Tabs

If you're a tabber, any of the sites above will give you the opportunity to share your work once you register as a member. Keep in mind that some websites reserve the right to approve your tabs before posting them online in order to ensure the overall quality of the user experience.