Tab Master Guitar Tab Editor

Tab Master is a guitar Tablature editor. I've written it in 1994, for the benefit of the Internet Users.

If you ever tried to write a TAB file, you've surely struggled with normal text editors... Carriage-returns messing around those nicely drawn dash lines... Transcriptions getting longer than 78 character per line... Occasionally switching between Insert and Overwrite typing mode yet mostly using the "Del" key or the "Back Space"... TAB editing could become a nightmare to those people who wish to contribute from their musical talent to the Net users. This is why I wrote Tab Master, and I've got to admit (not so humbly) that I have since used it for my own transcriptions.

Tab Master Screenshot (DOS)

Tab Master is a DOS program. It was written in Pascal long before Windows '95 was given it's final name. It doesn't support mouse, it isn't guaranteed to work properly under Windows 3.11 or Windows 95, and I don't think it even works on old Monochrom and Hercules cards... As a matter of fact it doesn't have Cut and Paste functions...

And yet, Tab Master turned to be one of the popular TAB editors. I still get a few requests for it every week. I think the main good thing about it is that it's extremely fast to work with. Once you get used to it, it's the fastest editor I've seen.

The general idea with Tab Master is that TAB transcriptions should be edited horizontally, without breaking the staff line when the cursor reaches the 80th column. Once this lengthy TAB transcription is complete Tab Master creates an output TAB file, in which the original transcript is transformed into a normal, 78 charcaters-per-line text file.

Please read the tutorial document that comes with Tab Master. The tutorial explains everything possible about the program, and is imo the best way to learn it.

Some add-ons were requested for Tab Master, such as alternative string tunings for Banjo and other string driven instruments. A separate document included in the package provides some tips for setting up different string tunings. It's not simple but it works.

Tab Master is a freeware. You may distribute the complete package to whoever you want.

You can download Tab Master now (TABLAT.ZIP - 34K)
or just Read the Document (38K)