Help

Add it to your home screen

TabBase works best as an app on your home screen: it opens full screen with no browser bars and starts in one tap.

Make an account

Sign in (the cloud in the header) so your tabs are backed up and safe, even if you change phones or clear your browser. They also sync between all your devices: start an idea on your phone and finish it at your computer.

You don't need an account to use TabBase. You can sign up any time, and the tabs you've already written come with you.

Forgot your password? Tap Forgot password? under the sign-in form. We'll email you a code: type it in (or tap the link in the email) and choose a new one.

Ideas and tunes

• New idea is for a quick riff or lick. It opens straight into the editor, so you can start typing frets.
• New tune is for a whole piece. When an idea grows into one, tap Promote to tune in the library.
• Search finds tabs by title, key or tag. The chips under it filter by type (lick, original and so on).

Writing tab

• Tap a string on the board to put the cursor there, then type the fret on the keypad. 0 and 3–9 go in at once; 1 and 2 wait a moment for a second digit (for 10–24). The cursor outline drains while it waits. After each note the cursor moves on, into the next bar at the end of a bar (a new bar is added at the end of the tab).
• Rhythm comes from where a note sits: each beat is split into 8ths, triplets or 16ths, and a note lasts until the next note or Rest.
• /, h and p join two notes with a slide, hammer-on or pull-off. FX has the rest: bends, vibrato, palm mutes, harmonics, pick direction and more. For a quick note just before the beat, like a 3 sliding into a 4, type the 4, then FX → Grace…, pick Slide, Hammer or Pull if it links in, and type 3.
• Chord puts a chord name above the beat. Bar ⋯ copies, pastes, adds and deletes bars, and adds repeats and 1st/2nd endings. Its Bar N to number at the top selects more bars, so those buttons work on all of them at once (copy a whole riff, or repeat it).
• Tap Bar N of M under the tab's title to jump to any bar. On the last bar, the › arrow next to the title adds a bar, even an empty one, so you can leave a gap or start a new line.
• Details has the key, capo, time signature, tempo, tags and sections. On a phone, View shows the finished tab sheet; on a computer it's always under the keypad, with Details in the left panel.

Tips

• Undo anything: every edit can be undone, including changes in Details.
• Share a tab: Copy link (in the Tab card, under Details on a phone) makes a link with the whole tab in it. Whoever opens it can add it to their library, no account needed.
• Print or save a PDF: Export opens the print dialog; choose Save as PDF.
• Picking up where you left off: a tab opens on the bar you last edited on this device.

Keyboard shortcuts

On a computer, you hardly need the mouse:

• ← ↑ → ↓ move, 0–9 type a fret (→ puts a waiting 1 or 2 in straight away), Backspace deletes (on an empty spot it backs up and deletes the note before, jumping to its string)
• / h p slide, hammer-on, pull-off; s slide in; r rest; t change the beat's subdivision
• f FX panel, b bend, v vibrato, m palm mute, c chords
• Shift+G grace note on the note you just typed: / h p to slide, hammer or pull into it, then its fret (4, Shift+G, /, 3 gives a 3 sliding into the 4)
• [ ] previous or next bar, + add a bar, Shift+[ ] select bars
• Cmd/Ctrl+C V D copy, paste, duplicate bars; Cmd/Ctrl+Z undo, Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Z redo

Get in touch

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