Guitar Pro

There is a parallel product called Tux Guitar, which is free.

They both play GuitarPro tabs, but GP has the RSS engines, which produce a superior playback. There are also several features in GP that you won't find in Tux.

I have both. I use GP for most things and Tux on my laptops, for messing with tab "on the go".

Although I don't like the skin of GP, I do think that it is worth the money, even bearing in mind that Tux is free.

If you aren't needing to create tabs, the iPad version is pretty good. And it is <$10.

I use tux guitar all the time. It's great for learning songs and breaking down or looping bits of the solo's at different speeds. Plus it's free as mentioned above :D

Thanks - I've downloaded a copy of TuxGuitar, and it works a treat :-)

Exactly what I was looking for.. :D :D

I don't have an iPad otherwise I'd have tried that app too.

You've obiously made you decision, but I'll come in late with my opinion. The GP latest version has great sound quality. You do need to tweek it. There's also some issue of importing user community files that may not be correct and such. Some previous versions don't line up song setting perfectly when openng with GP6. Things like capo not being applied, etc.

Spend some time tinkering with bass/drum effect settings and such for good sound. The RSE is really a fantastic upgrade. Some of the other features got improved, like reliable WAV output and such. I for one really like it. I also like the Band in a Box software suite, but that's really costly and tries to do too much. It's great fun, but much more fiddleing.

I've made a few backing tracks out of each. Boh are fun.

Thanks Ray, I went with the Tux guitar thing because it was free :-) And bought a pocket pod instead - which I'm liking :-)

So i'll probably stick with Tux at the moment, but might get guitar pro further down the line, as it seems highly recommended.

Thanks Ray, I went with the Tux guitar thing because it was free :-) And bought a pocket pod instead - which I'm liking :-)

So i'll probably stick with Tux at the moment, but might get guitar pro further down the line, as it seems highly recommended.
The RSE is really a fantastic upgrade. Some of the other features got improved, like reliable WAV output and such. I for one really like it. I also like the Band in a Box software suite, but that's really costly and tries to do too much. It's great fun, but much more fiddleing.
You've obiously made you decision, but I'll come in late with my opinion. The GP latest version has great sound quality. You do need to tweek it. There's also some issue of importing user community files that may not be correct and such. Some previous versions don't line up song setting perfectly when openng with GP6. Things like capo not being applied, etc.

Spend some time tinkering with bass/drum effect settings and such for good sound. The RSE is really a fantastic upgrade. Some of the other features got improved, like reliable WAV output and such. I for one really like it. I also like the Band in a Box software suite, but that's really costly and tries to do too much. It's great fun, but much more fiddleing.

I've made a few backing tracks out of each. Boh are fun.

It's great for learning songs and breaking down or looping bits of the solo's at different speeds. Plus it's free as mentioned above

I also like the Band in a Box software suite, but that's really costly and tries to do too much. It's great fun, but much more fiddleing.
I'm still adjusting to the whole suite of software I have as far as what to use, when. I too often forget to use GP, especially for making backing tracks.

Biab is a beast of an application. It's great for throwing generic blues patterns together with the real bass and drums tones. I don't do a lot of tweeking. I should add more fills and such than I currently do.
It's great for learning songs and breaking down or looping bits of the solo's at different speeds.
GP is my second source - right after song books - for looking up a riff or a riffy song. It's proven it's woth time and time again. Same with Power Tabs and I'm sure same as the Tux guitar thing, although I've never used it.

I'm a fan too. I can't read standard music notation (I should be ashamed of myself, because I'd like to), but I still prefer having tabs + standard notation. It's awesome for getting the rhythm part, as opposed to regular tabs, and Guitarpro links it quite nicely. provided you find some good tabs, of course.

I'm a fan too. I can't read standard music notation (I should be ashamed of myself, because I'd like to), but I still prefer having tabs + standard notation. It's awesome for getting the rhythm part, as opposed to regular tabs, and Guitarpro links it quite nicely. provided you find some good tabs, of course.
One interesting exercise to do is to fix a broken song, or one you don't think it correct. I've done one file. Took me forever to do, but I learned quite a lot.

One thing to be careful of, though, is that the GP-6 version I have (and since upgraded with latest patch) had a disconnect between actual chords and/or notes when establishing a capo. It's been a while and I have forgotten the specifics, but I've run into it more than once. It might have had to do with the note of an open string while capoed. I think it wanted to use the note at the nut instead of the capo. Something weird like that.

A great app for iPad that does everything Guitar Pro does and so much more is Progression by NOTION. There is a free version available for download and then a full version was just released two weeks agoish. I use it and like it far better than any tablature program I've seen. You can download GP files and edit them in any way you please. Not to mention creating your own scores and tabs is a ton of fun. The guitar effects and sounds actually sound great too. Here's more detailed info: http://notionmusic.com/progressionipad.html

Guitar pro is wonderful, I ordered a copy of the newest edition and I am waiting for it to arrive in the post. I have used the older ones before and I hear the new one is even better, as a guitar teacher I feel it is essential.

I'd like to retract my opinion on guitar pro - everything was going so well until guitar pro 6 - I just got it. It is awful, it opens slowly, it takes centuries to open a new tab and it lags on songs that have a lot of tracks. Terrible stuff, the free guitar tux is much better now. Guitar pro 5 was great, I think it's the new soundbanks that really slow it down.

I had to quadruple my RAM in one machine to use it without great delays. Over 2GB of RAM makes the world go 'round. :mrgreen: