TuxGuitar

TuxGuitar is a free and open-source tablature editor, which includes features such as tablature editing, score editing, and import and export of Guitar Pro gp3, gp4, and gp5 files.^[3] In addition, TuxGuitar's tablature and staff interfaces function as basic MIDI editors.

TuxGuitar
Original author(s)	Julian Gabriel Casadesus and others[1]
Stable release	1.6.6[2]  / 27 December 2024
Repository	github.com/helge17/tuxguitar
Written in	Java, Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT)
Operating system	Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, FreeBSD
Available in	English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish
Type	Tablature editor, Scorewriter
License	LGPL-2.1-only
Website	www.tuxguitar.app

TuxGuitar's mascot and namesake is Tux, the penguin mascot of many games and programs originally designed for Linux.

The program is written in the Java programming language^[4] and is released under the LGPL-2.1-only license.

Originally developed on SourceForge, development moved to GitHub on 30 March 2023^[5] after the TuxGuitar websites had disappeared and the original author stopped responding. The 1.6.0 release was the first release done on GitHub.^[6]

Skins

TuxGuitar offers a set of three default skins that its users can choose from. These are:

Image	Name	Author	First appeared in	Description
	Lavender	Sascha	v0.1	Simple, elegant theme with lavender color.
	Blue serious	Licnep	v0.1	A more serious theme, where blue dominates.
	Ersplus	Ersplus	v0.9	Default TuxGuitar theme.

TuxGuitar also supports custom skins. The default skin for version 1.0 is Lavender.

Supported effects

Note effects
Dead notes	Supported.
Accentuated notes	Only heavy or regular.
Harmonics	Only natural, artificial, tapped, pinched, or semi harmonic.
Dynamics	Not displayed in the body of the score.
Grace notes	Limited to a duration ranging from 1/64 to 1/16 of a whole note.
Tremolo picking	Limited to a duration of at most 1/8 and at least 1/32 of a whole note.
Slurs	Supported in the form of hammer-ons/pull-offs.
Hammer-ons and pull-offs	Limited support (the program doesn't differentiate between the two).
Slides	Limited support.
Track effects
Multiple Tracks	Supported, can be displayed by clicking View > Multitrack.
Multiple Voices	Supported but limited to two voices per track.
Repeats	Supported but limited to either open or closed barline repeats.
Alter. Endings	Supported but MIDI playback will only recognize the first two alternative endings, the second of which must be located above the measure that directly follows the closed repeat in order for it to be associated with the first alternative ending and the repeat in question.
Custom Number of Tunings for a Track's strings	Supported but the number of strings that can be added is limited to no more than 7 and no less than 4 and they can be set to any pitch within the range of 16.352Hz and 15804.266Hz, inclusive. Does not currently allow for different-length courses, e.g. five-string banjo.
Track Names	Supported.
Lyrics	Supported.
Text	Supported.
Chords	Supported.[7]
Symbols	Supported but limited to time signatures, clefs, and key signatures. (Instructional performance text can be added instead of symbols via the Text editor but they will not be supported by the MIDI playback or be recognized by TuxGuitar as anything but text.)

Supported file formats

File format	Importing	Exporting
TuxGuitar (.tg)	Yes	Yes
Guitar Pro (.gtp)	Yes	No
Guitar Pro 3 (.gp3)	Yes	Yes
Guitar Pro 4 (.gp4)	Yes	Yes
Guitar Pro 5 (.gp5)	Yes	Yes
Guitar Pro 6 (.gpx)	Yes	No
Guitar Pro 7 (.gp)	Yes	No
Power Tab (.ptb)	Yes	No
TablEdit (.tef)	Yes	No
GNU LilyPond (.ly)	No	Yes
MIDI (.mid)	Yes	Yes
ASCII tab (.txt)	No	Yes

Reception

As of May 2014^[update], TuxGuitar had 4/5 stars in the CNET user ratings.^[8] During the same time, TuxGuitar had 3.4/5 stars in the Softpedia user ratings.^[9] As of August 2016^[update] the program has 4.7/5 stars on SourceForge.^[10] Reviewers at Software Informer gave version 1.0 of TuxGuitar 5/5 stars, praising the "very easy to use interface" and "very advanced functions" of the program.^[11]

See also

• List of music software