Guitar tablatures

Guitar tablatures (or tabulatures) are a method of indicating the fingering of guitars for playing particular musical pieces. It was done in writing (for various other instruments as well as the guitar) for centuries, but is now commonly done in electronic form to instruct guitar players in playing songs.

Tablature files are generally normal ASCII text files including dashed lines and various letters, numbers, and standard ASCII punctuation characters depicting the strings of the guitar and what the player is expected to do with them at each point in the piece.

Many websites have been set up for the purpose of exchanging tablatures for popular songs, but in some cases the music publishers have reacted with legal threats or actual litigation because the tablature files are viewed as infringing on the music publishing rights for the songs.