Open & Play GTP files

If you download any one of these software, getting the Guitar Pro file to work is pretty easy. You just have to click on the file and then choose your alternative software to open it.

1) Guitar Pro

It can best be described as a Swiss Army knife for the practicing guitarist. Its hybrid nature means it has many features familiar to users of a DAW and of notation programs, as well as various practice apps (metronome, backing tracks, etc.) Its appeal is to synthesize these into a single software program that is solely dedicated to fretted instruments such as a guitar, bass, or ukulele. In theory, by having them under one roof, your workflow can be streamlined, and a more intuitive experience for the user.

2) TuxGuitar

TuxGuitar is essentially the free version of Guitar Pro that you can easily find on the Source Forge website. They’re not actually affiliated but what I mean is they work in a nearly identical way.

I listed Tux Guitar first because it’s probably the most reliable program out of everything on this list with the exception of MuseScore which can also be accessed for free.

Regardless, it’s a great tool because it doesn’t cost any money and – from what I understand and remember – it can do pretty much everything Guitar Pro can do.

Because it’s free though, it doesn’t always work 100% the way it’s expected so bear in mind that you may run into some issues every once in a while. It works for pretty much any operating system including Linux, macOS, and Windows.

3) PowerTab (Windows Only)

PowerTab is the original gangster of Guitar Pro file viewing because it’s what I used before I started with macOS in ~2010. There was a time when Ultimate Guitar, for example, had a section where you could view a lot of the tabs right in PowerTab.

However, Ultimate Guitar has since developed its own application for viewing tablature so we don’t see PowerTab or even Guitar Pro recommended as often on their platform as we used to.

From what I understand, PowerTab had issues at one point so I think that may be part of the reason why you don’t find their tabs as often as in the past.

4) SoundSlice

Another way of opening and viewing Guitar Pro files is with the website, Soundslice.