Tablight
Overview
Tab
Chord
Key
Scale
About
server
instrument
type
guitar
piano
violin
tapes
?
Tapes
are the thin strips a beginner sticks on the fingerboard, because a violin has no frets. Each marks a finger’s home spot in first position.
1st · 2nd · 3rd
— the usual three: 1st finger, high 2nd finger, 3rd finger.
1st · 3rd
— the two-tape layout some teachers prefer.
None
— a bare fingerboard.
1st · 2nd · 3rd
1st · 3rd
none
½ half steps
?
½ half steps
bracket each spot where two fingers touch — the half steps that set a string’s finger pattern.
The
lo
/
hi
tags and the spacing of the dots show the same thing, so this is off by default.
lefty
?
Lefty
mirrors the fretboard for a left-handed player — the low string on top, and the frets running the other way.
Guitar only.
play
?
Play
chooses which notes sound — the display always shows the full part.
everything
plays every note as written.
reachable only
silences notes the instrument can’t reach — below the violin’s lowest string, or off the guitar’s neck (tuning and capo counted). Chords are kept, so it suits the guitar.
melody
also drops each chord to a single line, sounding only its top note — clearer on the violin. If that top note is out of reach, the step rests.
With
melody
chosen, the
🎻 violin mode
button appears — tap it to hand-drop notes the auto top-line kept by mistake, then
↧
export the result as a standalone melody file. It only shapes this top line, never the full song; for that, edit on overview.
everything
reachable only
melody
view
layout
?
Layout
picks what practice mode shows: the
neck
alone, the
neck + tab
— the tab you are playing under the fretboard, all its staffs joined into one line that scrolls along, the current number lit and the ones already played dimmed — or the
tab
alone, full screen, for reading along — or the
degrees
alone: each note's scale degree, scrolling along like the tab.
Guitar practice mode, when the board follows a tab; with no tab to follow it is the neck. On a phone the tab takes some height from the neck.
neck
neck + tab
tab
degrees
notation
?
Notation
shows the piece as written music above the instrument: the notes, rests and bar lines of the score or MIDI file it was imported from. The note sounding is lit and the ones already played are dimmed; the line scrolls along as it plays.
Practice mode, for a melody imported from a
MusicXML
score with one voice, or from a
MIDI
file written on the beat (a notation program or DAW export — not one transcribed from audio). Greyed out for anything else, and after an edit that changes the notes. On a phone it replaces the falling notes.
Tablight shows notation from a file; it does not write it. For sheet music of your own tune, write it in a notation program such as MuseScore, export it as MusicXML and import that file.
Guitar with layout
neck + tab
or
tab
: the staff sits above the tab, each note over its tab number. On a phone the neck then steps aside.
import a MusicXML score or a MIDI file written on the beat to see it
degrees
?
Degrees
writes each note's scale degree under the staff: 1 is the home note of the key, 5 the fifth, and so on. Each section counts from its own key, the key shown on its card.
A note outside the key is red, with a
♯
or
♭
. The degrees of a chord stand on top of each other, the lowest note at the bottom.
Under the notation staff when it shows (a single staff, not a grand staff). Guitar without the staff: under the tab, each degree under its tab number — or with layout
neck
, as a strip of its own under the neck.
octave marks
?
Octave marks
put the octave before each degree, counted from the section's 1 (the home note in the middle of the section's notes):
+5
is the 5 an octave above it,
-3
the 3 an octave below,
*
and
/
two octaves above and below,
?
further. A degree without a mark is in the octave of the 1.
On every degree line: under the staff, under the tab, the strip under the neck and layout
degrees
. Shown while degrees are.
runway
?
Runway
puts a lane under the staff: a dot travels it and lands on each number exactly as it sounds, so the corner of your eye keeps the time while you read.
It also spaces the staff by timing — a long note takes more room — which is what lets the dot move at a steady pace. With a recorded take the spacing follows it; without one every note is a beat. The flash as the dot lands follows the Tab page's
strike
setting.
sound
guitar
acoustic steel
acoustic nylon
electric jazz
electric clean
electric muted
overdriven
piano
acoustic grand
acoustic grand (HQ)
electric grand
electric 1
electric 2
scale
show
?
Show
sets which notes are on the board;
labels
sets what is written in them.
scale
— every note of the key.
melody
— only the notes this section actually plays, at the pitch it plays them; accidentals in red.
current
— a clean board: only the note being played lights up.
scale
melody
current
labels
?
Labels
set what's shown on each note — fret dots on guitar, keys on piano.
notes
— the note name (C, D, E…).
scale degrees
— the note's number in the key (1–7, tonic = 1).
finger
— violin only: which finger stops it (the open string is a plain ring).
fret
— guitar only: the fret to press, 0 for an open string. With a capo it counts from the capo, as the tab does.
none
— the dots and lit keys with nothing written in them, for reading the shape rather than the names.
Accidentals follow the same choice — their scale degree is spelled as in the SD line (e.g. #4).
notes
scale degrees
none
scale box
?
Off
shows every in-key note across the whole neck.
On
lets you tap root notes to frame one movable scale position — a compact “box” shape — and hides the notes outside it, so you can learn one shape at a time.
Guitar only.
intervals
?
Intervals
show the musical distance from each note to the one before it, counted in semitones and shown as the interval name (e.g. m3 = 3 semitones, P5 = 7).
Handy for seeing and hearing how a melody moves, not just which notes it lands on.
falling notes
show
?
Falling notes
shows the notes coming up as bars that drop onto the piano. A taller bar is a longer note.
It runs on the
piano
, in
practice mode
— tap
⛶
and turn the phone to landscape — while a recorded take is
looping
. Otherwise the keys just light up as they sound.
overlap
?
Overlap
lets a key stay lit while later keys are pressed, so a note held under a moving line shows several keys down at once — the way both hands really play. This is the
how long do I hold it
view.
Turn it off for one key at a time: each key lights from its press to its release and never overlaps the next — the
when do I press it
view. Short notes and rests still show either way. Off by default.
lead
?
Lead
sets how far ahead the falling blocks appear — a longer lead gives more warning but packs the notes closer together.
The range is capped on smaller screens, where the lane is shorter, so the blocks stay readable.
2.5s
next note
show
?
Next note
lights where your hand goes next — one step ahead of the note you hear — so you can get to the right string and set the finger before it arrives.
It shows on the
violin
, and on the
guitar
in practice mode when the board follows a tab, while a melody plays or a take loops. Turn it off for a clean board.
lead line
?
Lead line
draws a faint path from the note sounding now to the next one — across the strings when you change string, along one when you shift finger.
Follow it to see the move coming. Off leaves just the lit next note.
timing
?
Timing
adds a ring that closes onto the next note, reaching it right when to play — so you feel
when
the note lands, not just where.
It rides on the recorded rhythm, so it shows while a
take loops
.
record
speed
?
Speed
plays a recorded melody back slower for practice — 10 % to 100 % (full speed). It changes tempo only, not pitch.
It stays in sync with the speed slider in the bottom transport bar, and re-times a running loop as you drag it.
100%
gap
?
Gap
is the silent pause between loop repetitions — the breath before a looped take starts over, from 0 to 3 seconds.
It's an absolute pause: the speed setting doesn't stretch it.
1.5s
ladder
?
Ladder
practice: with this on, the loop plays back a little faster each time it comes round — climbing from your current
speed
up to 100 %, then holding there.
Set how big each
step
is. Slide
speed
back down whenever you want to drill from slow again.
It works on any instrument and always begins switched off.
step
+5%
✕ clear recording
display
dark mode
set key — all sections
?
Set key — all sections
applies one key to every section at once, instead of setting each section on its own card.
Pick the tonic and the mode, then
Set key
— every section is overwritten with it.
Use it when the whole song stays in one key. Where sections genuinely change key, set them card by card instead.
tonic
C
Db
D
Eb
E
F
F#
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
mode
ionian (major)
dorian
phrygian
lydian
mixolydian
aeolian (minor)
locrian
Set key
—
Build sections
?
Build sections
re-splits the song into sections and gives each one its own key, chosen so that the section stays inside the accidental budget you set.
Max accidentals
is how many notes may fall outside that key. They’re counted as
pitch classes
— distinct note names, regardless of octave or of how often they sound. A budget of 1 allows one out-of-key note name, however many times it turns up and wherever it sits on the neck.
0–1
keeps sections in key where it can, but lets a single stray note name stay put rather than break a section in two. This suits most songs.
0
is strict: every note in key. One stray note is enough to start a new section.
max accidentals
−
+
Build sections
—
Build tab
?
Build tab
works out a playable tablature for the notes.
Tuning
,
capo
and
min
/
max fret
constrain where fingers may land; the string buttons switch individual strings off so the fingering keeps clear of them.
Capo
and
min fret
are not the same. The
capo
sets the reference point — the fret it clamps becomes the effective open string, so every number in the tab is counted up from there.
Min fret
is a lower bound on those numbers, measured from the capo rather than the nut: the lowest fret above the capo that the tab is allowed to use.
A new staff starts at every section — three sections give three staffs.
tuning
Standard
Drop D
Open G
Open D
DADGAD
Half down
strings
capo
−
+
min fret
−
+
max fret
−
+
Build tab
—
▼
Tab
press Calc tab to generate tablature
Set tab
—
?
Set tab
stores this calculated tab as the song’s tab.
It
replaces the tab loaded earlier
— the Tab page and
overview ▸ tab mode
show the stored tab, so from now on they show this one. The old tab is gone unless you saved it to a file first.
From
overview ▸ tab mode
you can edit the stored tab or export it as a file.
falling notes
?
Falling notes
shows upcoming notes as bars dropping onto the keys — a taller bar is a longer note.
Shown on the
piano
while a recorded take is
looping
.
speed
?
Speed
plays a recorded melody back slower for practice — 10 % to 100 % (full speed). It changes tempo only, not pitch.
It stays in sync with the speed slider in Settings, and re-times a running loop as you drag it.
100%
ladder
?
Ladder
practice: with this on, the loop plays back a little faster each time it comes round — climbing from your current
speed
up to 100 %, then holding there.
Set how big each
step
is. Slide
speed
back down whenever you want to drill from slow again.
It works on any instrument and always begins switched off.
step
+5%
↺
⇤
section
⇥
←
measure
→
◂
note
▸
▶︎
?
● record
gives the melody its rhythm. Tap ●, then play the melody through on the
green ▶︎ play
button, in time — the gap between one press and the next becomes that note’s length. Tap ● again to stop.
Notes that picked up a timing get a dotted underline in the
seq
row.
Record in parts.
Recording starts at the cursor, so you can do a phrase at a time — everything already recorded is kept.
Fix a part
by putting the cursor on the first note to redo (or setting a mini-loop around the notes — long-press its start note, then its end note), then tapping ● again: only the notes you replay are overwritten, and you’re asked to confirm first.
The other
▶︎
, just right of ●, is
loop
: it plays the recorded take back over and over. Tap to pause, tap again to resume. With a mini-loop set, only that range repeats.
The
[ ]
button beside
loop
also sets one: press
[
to mark the start on the last note you heard, then
]
for the end — both those notes are included, an unheard one never is. The badge’s
×
clears it.
speed
plays the take back slower to practise along — 10 % to 100 %. Tempo only, the pitch stays put, and a running loop re-times as you drag.
record
●
?
▶︎ loop
plays the recorded take over and over — tap to pause, tap again to resume.
The
[ ]
button sets a
mini-loop
, a slice to drill. Press
[
to mark the start on the last note you heard, play on, then press
]
to mark the end — both those notes are included, and a note you haven’t heard yet is not. The
×
on the badge returns to the whole take.
loop
▶︎
[
loop
×
speed
100%
🎻
↧
⛶