In a perfect world you could listen to a song once and then be able to play it note for note on your guitar without ever needing to use guitar tablature.
Unfortunately, not everybody has the ability or patience needed to work out songs alone on their guitar. That’s why guitar tablature is invaluable to any guitarist.
While good guitar tablature books are well worth buying, you can get free guitar tablature if you don’t mind computer print outs because there are many great websites that provide free use guitar tablature.
Whether you want to download Jimi Hendrix tablature, Rolling Stones tablature or something a little more modern, you will find that getting guitar tablature online is quick, free and legal, if you know where to look.
Here are five of the better websites where you can get free guitar tablature:
1. OLGA, The Online Guitar Archive
OLGA was the first website to offer free use guitar tablature and has been doing so since 1992. The site now has over 30,000 files covering all genres and many artists.
2. Guitar Tabs Universe
Guitar Tabs Universe has a lot of free use tablature for bass, guitar and mandolin. It is a nice looking site that is very easy to use. It is a good place to get free tablature quickly.
3. A-Z Guitar Tabs
This site organizes its guitar tablature by band only so if you want to get free tablature you need to know which band performed the song you want. But, they have an extensive catalog.
4. MXTabs.net
MXTabs boasts over 100,000 free use tabs on its professional looking website. It also has lessons for beginners, including ones on how to read guitar tablature. However, its best point has to be the sheer amount of guitar tablature you can get free.
5. Tab Crawler
Tab Crawler is another site that has over 100,000 free use guitar tabs. The site isn’t as good looking as MXTabs, but it is worth a visit if you want to get free guitar tablature.