Guide

Play a PDF guitar tab and convert it to a Guitar Pro file

Got a tab as a PDF and couldn't hear how it goes? ShedTab reads the numbers and symbols inside the PDF and turns them into a score that plays. You can also download the result as a Guitar Pro file (.gp).

PDFs that open

• PDFs exported from Guitar Pro: from Guitar Pro 5, 6, 7 and 8, with standard notation and tab, or tab only.
• Re-saved PDFs: most Guitar Pro pages saved again as PDF from another app.
• Plain-text tab PDFs: tabs written as text, like e|--0--3--|.
• Not yet: scanned or photographed PDFs, and piano or vocal sheets with no tab.

What gets read

• Notes and rhythm, triplets, dotted notes, rests
• Tuning (Drop D and others) and capo
• Hammer-ons and pull-offs, slides, bends, vibrato, let ring, palm mute, harmonics
• Repeats, section names (Intro, Verse…), chord names, tempo

How to

1. Add the PDF: drop it on the box on the home page or tap to choose it.
2. Convert: press Start practicing and the PDF is read into a score inside your browser. The file never leaves your device.
3. Play and practice: play, slow down, loop and use the speed trainer as usual.
4. Download .gp: press Download at the top of the practice room, then Download .gp to get a Guitar Pro file. PDF, MIDI and MusicXML are there too.

Questions

• Some bars have the wrong rhythm Depending on how the PDF was drawn, a few bars can be misread. The practice room lists bars whose rhythm doesn't add up, and you can fix them in the studio after downloading .gp.
• The PDF won't open It may be a scan or photo, or a score without tab. Files that fail are collected privately so they can be fixed.

Try it now

More guides

• Turn a text tab (e|--0--|) into a playable score
• Convert MIDI and MusicXML files to guitar tab
• Turn a recording (MP3, WAV) into a guitar tab draft
• An online guitar tuner that follows your score's tuning
• How to open Guitar Pro files (.gp, .gp5) without Guitar Pro
• Speed up a fast passage by practicing slowly