Guitar Tablature Guide: Popular Music
Pop Music, Rock Music, Country, Broadway, Film, Television,
Jazz & More!
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Editor's Picks...
Below are our personal picks, the sites that get our
highest recommendation for this genre. They are listed in alphabetical order:
BandTabs.com
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Tablature)
Categories: Popular
Catalog Size: Huge (1000+)
BandTabs is a unique guitar tablature resource dedicated to providing tab for entire albums by many of today's
hottest rock acts. Over 190 artists are represented including albums by Aerosmith, Linkin Park, U2, Green Day,
Offspring, Pink Floyd, and Radiohead. Tabs are browsable by artist name, or you can search by song title, artist
name, or album title. These tabs are original guitar interpretations of the works. Very attractive site, easy on
the eyes and intuitive interface. Updated 05/20/2002.
Free Guitar
Tips & Tabs by Bob Houlston
Instrumentation for: Guitar
Categories: Classical, Traditional, Popular
Catalog Size: Medium (50-100)
It's not a large tab site, but it's a very good one, designed for beginners on the guitar. Bob's site has one of
the most detailed, easy to read explanations I've seen on how to read guitar tab, and the site, overall, is a perfect
place to just pick up your guitar and start getting familiar with reading tab notation. The selection of songs
is good too, with everything from Air on the G String to
Music Box Waltz and House of the Rising Sun.
Other featurings include guitar maintenance tips, playing styles, and many other extras. Added 12/03/2002.
Greg's MIDI and Tab
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Tablature)
Categories: Popular
Catalog Size: Large (100-500)
A well-rounded guitar tab site featuring lots of classic Rock and Roll including AC/DC, Kiss, The Beatles, Clapton
and More. One very cool feature is that MIDI files are provided for each song, with guitar and vocal tracks removed
so you can jam with the band. No need to be embarrassed by your rusty chops - jam with the band from home! Sorted
alphabetically. Added 03/04/2002.
Guitar Noise
Instrumentation for: Guitar
Categories: Pop & Rock
Catalog Size: Medium (50-100) with links to hundreds.
We found Guitar Noise to be quite a treat, especially for those just learning to play the instrument. Guitar Noise
features lessons using tablature for both easy and intermediate guitarists. Songs used in the lessons include a
lot of popular favorites such as Horse With No Name, Margaritaville, House
of the Rising Sun and many others. The Tab section
includes articles on how to read, play and write tab and links to thousands of tabs, sorted alphabetically by band
name available on the Internet. A fun place to learn to play guitar. Added 11/23/2002.
Guitar Tab Universe
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Tablature)
Categories: Pop/Rock
Catalog Size: Huge (35,000+)
GTU is an extremely large, searchable guitar tablature
archive that ranks as perhaps one of the best, all inclusive tab sites available on the net. Easy to navigate,
GTU makes it fast and easy to find what you want right now. No frills, not too cluttered, just lots and lots of
tablature! Added 11/19/2001.
OLGA: The Online Guitar Archive
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Tablature), Bass
(Tablature), Classical Guitar
Categories: Pop, Rock, Country, Classical
Catalog Size: Huge (25,000+)
When the Internet was still young, there was really
only one place to find guitar tablature - OLGA. And even though the Internet has aged and become much more diversified,
OLGA still stands out as a mighty large source of guitar tablature for the web. OLGA's sleek design and and folder-based
archive makes it easy to navigate. Completely searchable, or browseable by artist. You'll also find text-based
lessons and a chord generator. Updated 07/16/2002.
TabCrawler
Instrumentation for: Guitar, Bass and Drum Tablature
Categories: Popular, Rock, Alternative,
Catalog Size: Huge
TabCrawler is perhaps the most complete tab site we've ever reviewed here. Not only do they offer free guitar and
drum tablature for thousands of popular songs, but they provide extensive online guitar lessons (which should not
be missed), as well as active discussion forums covering a wide variety of music related topics. It's the perfect
site for both beginner or master guitar players. Tabs browseable by band name, or searchable by band name and/or
song title. Added 01/14/2002.
TabRobot
Instrumentation for: Guitar Tablature
Categories: Popular, Rock, Alternative, Others
Catalog Size: Huge (Searches 450,000+ tabs)
TabRobot isn't a site so much as it is a meta-search engine which searches mulitple tab databases (such as GuitareTAB,
Olga,
Guitar Tab Universe and others) simultaneously. The end result is that rather than visiting several sites to find
the guitar tab you're looking for, you can search in one single place. You can also browse by band name. A very
extensive and useful resource. Added 06/17/2002.
More Free Sheet Music Resources:
7 Hot
Instrumentation for: Piano & Guitar
Categories: Popular
Catalog Size: Small (10-25)
At this interesting Russian web site you'll find
sheet music, scanned as posted as *gif files, for a dozen Beatles songs including Love Me Do, A Hard Day's Night,
Help,
Let it Be and others. Added 05/20/2003.
8notes.com
Instrumentation for: Piano, Guitar, Flute, Violin,
Cello, Trumpet, More...
Categories: Primarily Classical, Popular
Catalog Size: Large (100-500)
At 8notes.com, you'll find mostly classical free
sheet music for download in Sibelius format, as well as basic 'riff' lessons for a variety of instruments in other
genres. The site also features a database of sheet music available on other web sites as well as MIDI files to
download for most songs. Other features include a 'Tab Converter,' a sheet music forum, articles, and a directory
of other sheet music sites. To access free PDF files, and browse an ad-free site, you must purchase a $15/year
subscription. Updated 06/24/2003.
COWPIE Song
Corral
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Tablature)
Categories: Popular
Catalog Size: Huge
COWPIE is one of the Internet's most extensive collections of country music guitar tablature. The files available
for download are simple text files, with the song lyrics and chords. Nothing fancy, but if you love country music
and have the skill necessary to improvise from chord charts, you will find this searchable collection very useful.
Lots of very popular acts represented here, including Shania Twain, the Eagles, Sara Evans, Clint Black, Jackson
Browne and more. Updated 07/29/2002.
ezFolk.com
Instrumentation for: Folk Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele
Categories: Traditional, Christmas, Popular
Catalog Size: Medium (50-100)
Richard Hefner’s excellent instructional site for banjo, folk guitar, and ukulele includes tablature and tutorials
as well MP3 files for most of the songs. You'll find a number of Christmas selections, as well as popular folk
favorites such as Amazing Grace, Blue Mountain,
Cripple Creek, and Greensleeves. Don't miss
the special tab provided for the music from O Brother,
Where Art Thou?. Reviewed 10/08/2001.
Final Fantasy
Instrumentation for: Piano, Guitar, Clarinet, Band,
Flute, Strings, Others
Categories: Popular, Game Soundtracks
Catalog Size: Medium (50-100)
This fan site is dedicated to Nobuo Uematsu, the composer and arranger of music for the Sony Playstation Final Fantasy
game series. Select the 'sheet music' option under the Download drop down list, and you'll find a large selection
of sheet music scores arranged for several different instruments. Sheet music is zipped, but once downloaded and
upzipped, you'll find high quality PDF files. Added 07/01/2002.
GuitareTab.com
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Tablature)
Categories: Popular
Catalog Size: Huge (30,000+)
Yet another tablature site with a huge catalog of popular music for guitarists. Searchable or browseable by artist/band
name, with top 45 searches one-click away. Style of tablature varies depending on submitter, many selections offered
in varying styles. Added 01/28/2002.
Guitar
Masters Jazz Charts
Instrumentation for: Guitar (Lead Sheets), Piano
(Melody & Chords)
Categories: Popular, Jazz
Catalog Size: Large (100-500)
Guitar Masters instructional guitar pages include *.gif downloads for a large selection of popular songs, classics,
and 'golden oldies' such as Aint Misbehavin, April
in Paris, House of the Rising Sun, Misty, September in the Rain, Unforgettable, Yesterday and many, many others. These lead sheets contain melody and chords, which
can be adapted for guitarists or used as 'fake sheets' for pianists. Added 05/06/2002.
Muse Mania
Instrumentation for: Guitar, Electric Piano
Categories: Pop/Rock
Catalog Size: Small (10-25)
The UK rock band Muse, who draws inspiration from groups like Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Radiohead, have made
sheet music and tablature for a number of their original songs available for their fans. Sheet music is written
primarily for guitarists, but does include lead sheets for electric piano and vocals. Downloads are provided in
*.jpg format. Click on 'Tablature' link to browse and download the files. Added 09/23/2002.
TabMall
Instrumentation for: Guitar, Bass and Drum Tablature
Categories: Popular, Rock, Alternative, Punk, Metal
Catalog Size: Huge
TabMall offers free guitar and drum tabs by the thousands, with browseable directories of popular songs. The visitor
who recomended this site to us was particularly impressed with their selection of tabs for more obscure, punk and
metal bands. But, the site offers a very complete collection of tabs for general rock and pop fans, too. Additional
resources include guitar lessons. Tabs browseable by band name. Added 02/25/2002.
Tobias
Collection of Bass Transcriptions
Instrumentation for: Bass Guitar Tablature
Categories: Popular, Rock, Jazz, Classical
Catalog Size: Large (100-500)
Tobias operates this 'free-for-all' link page to to other bass tablature offerings. It's large, and has links to
some notable selections, including bass transcriptions for Tower of Power, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blues Brothers,
Rush and others. The site is aging, and hasn't been updated for some time, so be prepared for the possibility of
broken links. Updated 05/22/2003
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