Guitar Tabs Universe

The Tablature Controversy

The problem that exists with tablature is that there is a perception in the music industry that guitar tabs constitute a breach of copyright. Their argument is that the free distribution of guitar tablature for an artist’s songs denies that artist an avenue of revenue that he/she might otherwise have through sheet music sales and, tangentially, CD or download sales.

People who support the use of tablature and free distribution of tabs argue that tabs constitute lessons and are a part of any teacher or student’s legitimate learning and teaching experience. They argue that people who use tabs are frequently those who purchase the most music legitimately and are merely fans of the artists who wish to learn how to play their songs.

This argument has held no sway with the music corporations who have acted to remove as many tablature websites from the Internet as possible. One of the victims of these actions was Guitar Tabs Universe, which has been forced to change its presence and name to Guitar Zone 2.0. The first page of the website contains an explanation of the website’s position regarding the legality of guitar tabs. The website also has a forum function as well as a link to another tab website, Beaver Tabs.

Guitar Tabs Universe: Alternative Sites

Although Tabs Universe itself no longer hosts guitar tablature, there are plenty of alternatives that are still in existence that have a wealth of tabs in their database.

Here are some examples of the more popular sites:

• Ultimate Guitar: Ultimate Guitar boasts over 300,000 guitar tabs available for users. It has a very user-friendly search system where songs can be searched by either song name or band name. There is also a section for news as well as a review section. This website also offers an alphabetical search for tabs contained on the site.
• A-Z Guitar Tabs: This popular guitar tab website also has a search feature as well as a forum where guitar players can interact with each other. There is also a list of links to other guitar tab websites that may be useful to guitar players.
• Fret Play: Fret Play has a comprehensive array of tabs for all types of music and all manner of artists. There is an online guitar lessons feature, as well as a collection of bass guitar tabs.

While Guitar Tabs Universe may be on hiatus, there are plenty of other options available for those who wish to learn music on guitar through tablature. The question remains, though, how long these resources will remain available if the music industry is serious about cracking down on what they perceive as copyright infringement.