Play ABC tunes with synchronized notation, instrument-specific tablature, audio playback, and live fretboard fingerings.
Overview
Load, type, or paste ABC tunes and play them with synchronized standard notation and optional tablature for the selected fretted instrument.
The fretboard pane shows the current tune title and, during playback, the selected instrument’s fingering, with the note name and optional staff notation to its right.
Use Instrument to select Mandolin, Tenor Banjo, Bouzouki (GDAE), Bouzouki (GDAD), Guitar (Standard), or Guitar (DADGAD). The instrument selection is saved and restored.
Use Notation display to choose standard notation alone or standard notation with tablature for the selected instrument. The default is Notation + Tab.
Opening and Selecting Tunes
Type or paste a single tune into the ABC editor, open an .abc or .txt file containing one or more tunes, or send tunes directly from ABC Transcription Tools.
For multi-tune files, use the Tune menu to select the tune to display and play. Edits are retained when changing tunes.
The ABC editor intentionally accepts only one pasted tune at a time; multi-tune collections should be opened as a file or transferred from ABC Transcription Tools.
ABC Editing and Notation
The upper-left panel contains editable ABC. The lower-left panel shows abcjs notation and playback controls. The Notation display selector chooses whether tablature for the selected instrument is also shown.
Editing the ABC rebuilds the notation and audio. When tablature is enabled it is rebuilt at the same time. Click a rendered note to select its corresponding ABC text.
The Small / Medium / Large / Largest selector changes the ABC editor text size and remembers the choice in this browser.
Fretboard Display
With Show Fretboard checked, the current note is shown on a vertical fretboard. Black circles show fretted notes and hollow circles show open strings. Uncheck Show Fretboard to use the compact string-and-fret display. This setting is remembered in this browser and is not included in share links.
Check Show note to also show the current pitch as a quarter note on a staff below the note name. The Show note setting is remembered in this browser and is not included in share links.
Note names use sharps only and a fixed octave format: G3-B3 use a trailing comma, C4-B4 use capital letters, C5-B5 use a trailing apostrophe, and C6-B6 use two trailing apostrophes. When Show note is enabled, the staff display also uses sharps for accidentals rather than flats.
The Notation display and Instrument choices are remembered in this browser and are also included in generated share links.
Playback and Tempo
As each melody note plays, the notation cursor follows the tune and the fretboard pane updates to that note.
Irish-style roll playback is enabled by default for ~ ornaments. Add %irish_rolls_off to a tune to disable it. Playback also forces the FatBoy soundfont and uses MIDI program 141 for Mandolin, MIDI program 105 for Tenor Banjo, or MIDI program 140 for either Bouzouki tuning, or MIDI program 25 for either Guitar tuning, with program 0 for bass and chords, overriding matching playback directives in the source ABC.
Click Mute Melody in the Notation header to mute the melody. This is available for every tune, including tunes without chord symbols, so you can practice with the metronome alone. If the tune contains chord symbols, chord and bass accompaniment remain audible.
Toggling Mute Melody or Unmute Melody stops and rewinds the tune. If it was playing, playback restarts from the beginning after the five-second count-in when Count in? is enabled, or immediately when Count in is disabled. If the tune was stopped, it remains stopped.
The button changes to Unmute Melody; click it again to restore the melody.
The melody always starts unmuted when the tool is opened, and the mute setting resets to unmuted any time you change tunes or load a new tune collection.
Check Metronome to add a meter-appropriate metronome click during playback. Changing this setting stops and rewinds the current tune. The metronome setting is remembered in this browser but is not included in share links.
Check Count in? to show a five-second countdown before playback starts when you click Play while playback is stopped.
The Count in setting is remembered in this browser.
Click the tempo percentage in the playback controls to set playback from 10% to 200%. The setting is remembered in this browser.
Resizing and Full-Page View
On wide screens, drag the vertical divider to resize the left and fretboard panes, and drag the horizontal divider to resize the ABC and notation panes. Double-click a divider to reset it.
Click Full-Page View to enlarge the fretboard pane while keeping playback controls available at the bottom. Click Exit Full Page or press Escape to return.
Saving and Sharing
Click Save to save the complete currently loaded tune collection, including edits. On mobile devices the saved file uses a .txt extension.
Click Share Tune for the current tune or Share All Tunes for the complete loaded collection. The compressed ABC is copied in a share URL.
When ABC arrives through a share link or direct transfer, click Click to Enable Playback if the browser requires a user gesture before audio can start.
About
This tool was created by Michael Eskin.
If you find it useful, please consider a contribution via
Michael Eskin's Tip Jars