About TabToSheetMusic

Why TabToSheetMusic exists, what it does with your guitar or bass tab, what it will not do, and how to reach the people who build it.

2026/10/04

TabToSheetMusic is a browser-based converter at https://tabtosheetmusic.com that turns guitar and bass tab into standard music notation. You paste a plain-text tab or drop in a Guitar Pro file, it fills in the rhythm that text tabs leave out, and you export notation that people who do not read tab can play from: a printable PDF, MusicXML for MuseScore, Sibelius, Dorico or Finale, MIDI, or a Guitar Pro file.

Why we built it

Tab is how most guitarists write music down. It tells you which string and which fret, and that is enough when the person reading it is another guitarist.

The trouble starts when the part has to go to someone else. A pianist in the worship band, a bandmate who reads notation, a student whose method book uses the staff, a teacher, an arranger, a publisher. None of them want a column of fret numbers. So the guitarist opens a notation editor and enters the whole part again, one note at a time, working out each duration by ear. A three-minute song can take an evening.

We built TabToSheetMusic to cut that evening down to a few minutes. It is not a course in reading music, and it is not a song library. It is for the moment you already have your part in tab and need to hand it over in a form the other person can read.

What TabToSheetMusic does

  • Reads the tab you already have. Paste plain-text (ASCII) tab for 6-string guitar or 4-string bass, or import a Guitar Pro file (.gp, .gp3, .gp4, .gp5, .gpx) or MusicXML.
  • Fills in the rhythm. Text tabs usually show which notes to play but not how long to hold them. We estimate durations from the spacing in your tab, and you can change the durations of a whole measure in one step instead of fixing notes one by one.
  • Lets you check by ear. Play the result back to hear whether the rhythm matches what you play.
  • Shows notation next to the tab. The staff and the original tab sit one above the other, so you can compare them measure by measure.
  • Exports in the formats other people use. PDF to print or send, MusicXML to keep editing in MuseScore, Sibelius, Dorico or Finale, MIDI for a DAW, and Guitar Pro.

Converting and previewing are free and need no account. Exporting requires an account. Your first export is free when you sign up; after that, exports use credits (1 credit = 1 song export, and exporting the same song again does not use another): $4.9 for one song, $9.9 for a pack of 10, or Pro at $7.9 a month or $79 a year with unlimited exports. The pricing page has the details.

What it will not do

We would rather tell you up front than have you find out after paying:

  • No songs. We do not provide sheet music or tabs for any song, and there is no public library of files. TabToSheetMusic only converts material you bring, and you should only convert music you have the right to use. See our Terms of Service.
  • Tab to notation only. It does not turn standard notation back into tab.
  • No audio or images. It does not work from recordings, MP3s, video links, photos, screenshots or scanned PDFs. If you only have a recording, someone has to write the tab first.
  • No promise of perfection. Rhythm is estimated, so check the playback and adjust the measures that are off before you export.

Who it is for

  • Guitarists handing a part to someone else: a pianist, a band, a choir director, a session player.
  • Guitar teachers who want worksheets with both tab and standard notation for students.
  • Songwriters who can play their song but need a lead sheet or a score to send out.

What they have in common: they already know their music in tab, and they need someone who does not read tab to be able to play it.

Credits

Notation is drawn and played back with alphaTab, an open-source music notation library (MPL-2.0). The tab parsing and rhythm detection are our own.

Contact

TabToSheetMusic is built and supported by people, not a bot. Bug reports, conversion problems and feature requests go to the same inbox, and a person reads every message:

If a tab does not convert the way you expect, sending us the tab text is the fastest way to get it fixed.