What MusicXML is
MusicXML is an open format for sheet music. MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius, Dorico and Guitar Pro can all export it, so it's the usual way to move a score between programs. A file ends in .musicxml or .xml, or .mxl when it's compressed.
How the tab is made
Each part in the file becomes a track. Then one of two things happens:
- The part has a tab staff. The strings and frets in the file are kept exactly, as are the techniques: bends, slides, hammer-ons, harmonics and the rest.
- The part is notation only. guitarnotation puts each note on the string of a standard-tuned guitar, or a bass for bass parts, where the hand moves least. Select a note and press Alt+Up or Alt+Down to move it to another string at the same pitch.
A piano part with two staves comes in as its first staff, and only the first voice of each bar is kept; guitarnotation tells you what it left out.
How to open one
- In your notation program, export the score as MusicXML (compressed .mxl is fine).
- In guitarnotation, choose File › Open or drag the file onto the window.
- Check the tab, play it back slowed down, and export it as PDF, .gp, MIDI or WAV.
Free MusicXML guitar tabs
Our free tab library has 45 public-domain songs, from Ode to Joy to Greensleeves, each with a MusicXML download that includes the tab staff. They open in guitarnotation and in any program that reads MusicXML, and you can play every one of them in the browser player first.
MusicXML out
File › Export › MusicXML writes the notation and the tab together, with the strings and frets of every note, for MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius, Dorico or Guitar Pro.
Other formats: Guitar Pro .gp5 and MIDI. Using MuseScore already? See guitarnotation vs MuseScore Studio.