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Convert MIDI to guitar tab
Drop a MIDI file and download it as a PDF of notation and tab, with the rhythms cleaned up and a string and fret chosen for every note on the guitar and bass parts. Text tab, Guitar Pro and MusicXML are one more click. Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
The converter needs JavaScript. Without it, open the file in the editor and export it from the ⋯ menu.
How it works
- Drop your MIDI file on the box above, or press Choose a file and pick it (.mid, .midi).
- The file is read in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
- The PDF file (.pdf) downloads straight away. Press Download to get it again, pick another format, or open the score in the editor.
What comes through
- Every channel as an instrument, named from the MIDI track and matched to its General MIDI sound; channel 10 becomes a drum set
- Tempo and tempo changes, time and key signatures, and markers as section names
- Notes and chords, with timing cleaned up to sixteenths, or to triplets where the music swings
- A starting dynamic for each part, from how hard its first notes are played
- Guitar, bass and other fretted parts get tab, with a string and fret chosen for every note
What changes
- MIDI has no spelling, so sharps and flats are chosen from the key signature
- Note lengths are rounded to the nearest sixteenth or triplet; recorded performances need tidying afterwards
- Overlapping notes go into a second voice, and notes held under others (let ring) become tied notes
- Repeats are written out, because a MIDI file stores the music in playing order
- Pitch bends, lyrics, sustain pedal and individual note velocities are not read
The converter uses the same reader and writer as the editor. The details are on importing MIDI and exporting PDF.
When the part is not a guitar
A track gets tab when its MIDI sound is a guitar, bass or another fretted instrument. For a melody on a piano or synth sound, press Open in the editor, change the track’s instrument to a guitar in the instrument settings, and the tab appears with frets chosen for every note.
MIDI files that convert cleanly
MIDI exported from notation or tab software (MuseScore, Guitar Pro, a DAW’s score editor) turns into clean tab, because its notes already sit on the beat. A recording of someone playing a keyboard works too, but its timing has to be rounded, so expect to fix a few rhythms in the editor.
Which download?
PDF to read or print, text tab to paste into a forum, Guitar Pro to keep editing in Guitar Pro, and MusicXML for MuseScore, Sibelius or Dorico.
Questions
Does every MIDI file get tab?
Tracks on guitar, bass and other fretted sounds do. Tracks on other sounds come through as notation; change their instrument to a guitar in the editor to get tab for them.
Why are some rhythms wrong?
A recorded performance is never exactly on the beat. Note lengths are rounded to sixteenths or triplets, which can split or shift notes in free playing. MIDI made in notation software converts cleanly.
Why does the tab have more bars than the song?
MIDI stores music in playing order, so repeats and jumps arrive written out in full.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The conversion runs in your browser; nothing is sent to our server unless you open the score in the editor and save it.
Other converters
- Convert Guitar Pro to MusicXML
- Convert Guitar Pro to PDF
- Convert Guitar Pro to MIDI
- Convert Guitar Pro to text tab
- Convert GP5 and GPX files to Guitar Pro 8
- Convert MusicXML to Guitar Pro
- Convert MusicXML to PDF
- All converters
Every conversion is free, needs no account, and runs in your browser.