Fretspire

Write tabs as fast as you can type.

A desktop tablature editor with the good old workflow: a yellow cursor that goes where it is told, a shortcut for everything, no account, no subscription, no cloud.

Download for Windows Download for macOS

Version 0.3.0. Free, no account, works offline. Windows 10 or later; macOS 11 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel. How to install.

Intro riffGuitar 1 · E standard
TAB 0 0 5 7 5 7 3 0 0 3 5 5 4 3

A tab editor that stays out of your way

Keyboard first

Type the fret, two digits for frets 10 to 30, plus and minus for the duration. Every effect, bar and track command has a shortcut, laid out like the classic editors of the 2000s.

Every technique

Bends with six curve types, natural and artificial harmonics, slides, hammer-ons, vibrato, palm mute, dead and ghost notes, tapping, slap and pop, let ring, grace notes.

Bars and tracks

Copy, cut and paste bars across tracks, or select beats with the mouse. Repeats, alternate endings, time and key signatures, tempo changes, markers, tuning, capo, transpose.

Drums as tab

Drum tracks get their own tablature with the drum number on each line, plus a clickable drum map with every General MIDI kit piece.

Fretboard and keys

A live fretboard or piano under the score shows what is sounding, in the current tuning. Click it to enter notes.

Play and practise

Hear what you wrote: loop a bar, metronome and count-in, speed from 25% to 200%. Mute, solo, volume and pan per track.

Open, save, print

Opens .gp3 to .gp8, MusicXML, Capella and MIDI. Saves to .gp, imports and exports MIDI, prints clean A4 sheets.

Themes, black ink

A dark interface by default and a dozen other themes. The tablature itself always stays black on white paper.

Yours, offline

No account, no subscription, no cloud. Your files stay on your disk and the app works without internet.

Opens the files you already have

.gpGuitar Pro 7, 8 .gpxGuitar Pro 6 .gp5Guitar Pro 5 .gp4Guitar Pro 4 .gp3Guitar Pro 3 .musicxmlMusicXML, .mxl .capxCapella .midMIDI

Your work is saved as .gp (the format of Guitar Pro 7 and 8), so it opens in other tab software too. MIDI files can be imported and exported.

Install

Windows

  1. Download Fretspire_0.3.0_x64-setup.exe and run it.
  2. If SmartScreen shows a warning for an unsigned installer, choose More info, then Run anyway.
  3. On older Windows 10 the installer may download Microsoft WebView2 first; on Windows 11 it is already there.
  4. Tab files (.gp, .gp3 to .gp5, .gpx) open in Fretspire on double-click; change it in Settings, Apps, Default apps.

macOS

  1. Download Fretspire_0.3.0_universal.dmg, open it and drag Fretspire to Applications.
  2. The app is not notarized yet. If macOS says it cannot check it, open System Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway.
  3. One build runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

By a guitarist, for guitarists

Neckrion, Ishimura

Fretspire is nostalgia for the old programs that simply worked: a yellow cursor that goes where it is told, a shortcut for everything, no account, no subscription, no cloud. The good old workflow in a new coat of paint.

Cosmic dread sold separately.

About Ishimura

Ishimura plays black death metal, about cosmic horror and existential dread. Its guitarist also suffers from a smaller, more personal horror: modern tab editors, where every button hides three menus deep and the cursor has opinions.

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