The best guitar tab app for beginners

How to read a tab in 2 minutes

Each line is a string. The top line is the thinnest string (high e), and the bottom line is the thickest (low E). Each number is the fret to press, and 0 means play the string open. You read left to right.

Bars 1–1
e|------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------0----------------------|
G|-------------------0-----------0----------------|
D|-------------2-----------------------2----------|
A|-------2-----------------------------------2----|
E|-0----------------------------------------------|

That's most of it. A plain text tab often doesn't show rhythm, so you need to listen to the song for timing. That's why tabs that play along are so helpful when you're starting.

Which app for what

• You can't play chords yet: a lesson app first. American Songwriter picks Simply Guitar for beginners and JustinGuitar for free content.
• You want to strum and sing songs you like: Ultimate Guitar's free chords.
• You want to learn riffs: Songsterr. Free playback shows you the timing. Its Plus plan ($9.99/month on the US App Store) adds speed and looping. There are free ways to slow a song down if you don't want to pay.
• Your song isn't in any of them: that's when making a tab from the audio helps. Start with a clear guitar part.

Trying to choose between the first two? Songsterr vs Ultimate Guitar goes deeper.

Three habits that save beginners time

1. Start slow, with the song you actually love. Motivation beats the perfect beginner song.
2. Learn one small part at a time. Four bars you can play beat a whole song you can't.
3. Trust your ears over the tab. Tabs can be wrong, including AI ones. If it doesn't sound like the record, it may be the tab and not you.