About Tab Sketcher

What this tool does

Tab Sketcher is a free in-browser tool for writing guitar notation (tabs plus standard staff), transposing in a single step, and exporting to PNG, PDF, or SVG. No installation is required, and work is auto-saved to the browser's LocalStorage.

Main features: virtual fretboard input, a chord library of more than forty chords, one-click transposition, a diatonic chord panel, seven tuning presets, AlphaTab-powered staff rendering, Guitar Pro file import (.gp/.gp3-5), and shareable URLs. A closer look at how each of these works is on the how it works page.

Who makes this

Tab Sketcher is designed and run by Hyouk Seo, a digital product designer who goes by Spemer online. It is an independent one-person project, not a company product.

The tool grew out of a simple frustration: existing guitar-tab software is powerful but steep to learn. From a product designer's perspective, the goal here is the opposite. Writing a tab should feel closer to sketching in a design tool, so a beginner can go from a blank page to something they can hear and share in minutes. Every feature is judged by whether it keeps that path short and the result pleasant to look at.

The maker's official site is spemer.com. You can see more of his work on GitHub, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Data sources

The five sample songs included with the tool (Romance, Greensleeves, Lágrima, Gymnopédie No.1, Canon in D) are all public-domain works whose copyrights have expired. Composer notes and historical context follow Wikipedia and IMSLP as primary references. The full per-song breakdown is available on the guitar pieces page, with the source links inline.

Staff rendering is powered by the open-source library AlphaTab (MPL-2.0). Playback uses the freely distributed SONiVOX SoundFont. The full list of libraries, fonts, and sound files, each with its license, is on the credits page.

Licensing and use

The tool itself is free and supported by ads. Tabs you create belong to you. The copyright of Guitar Pro files you import or any lyrics you enter belongs to their original rights holders; the tool does not claim or alter those rights.

The factual chord fingerings and the public-domain sample songs may be referenced freely.

Privacy and storage

Tabs you write, the language you pick, and display options are kept only in this browser's LocalStorage and are not transmitted to or stored on any server. The full statement is on the privacy policy page.

Contact

Bug reports, feature ideas, and general questions are welcome by email, or via the contact button in the tool footer.