How to Add a Tabber Name to a Guitar Pro Score
Guitar Pro is one of the most widely used tablature editors among guitarists, bassists, and composers who want to create, share, or print professional-looking scores. One detail that often gets overlooked — especially by newer users — is the tabber name field: the line that credits whoever transcribed or arranged the piece. Getting this right matters whether you're sharing tabs online, distributing printed scores, or simply keeping your files organized.
What Is a Tabber Name in Guitar Pro?
In Guitar Pro, a score contains two types of authorship fields that are easy to confuse:
- Artist/Composer — the original creator of the music
- Tabber — the person who transcribed or arranged the music into tablature format
The tabber name appears in the score information metadata, and depending on your layout settings, it can also appear as a subtitle or footer when the score is printed or exported. This distinction is especially important when transcribing cover songs or arrangements, where the original composer and the tabber are different people.
Where to Find the Score Information Panel
The tabber name field lives inside the Score Information or File Information dialog — not in the main score editing view. Here's where to locate it depending on your version:
Guitar Pro 8 (and Guitar Pro 7.5):
- Open your file in Guitar Pro.
- Go to File in the top menu bar.
- Select Score Information (sometimes labeled File > Score Information or accessible via a keyboard shortcut like
F5depending on your OS). - A panel will open with multiple metadata fields.
Guitar Pro 6 and earlier:
- Go to File > Score Information or use the Edit menu depending on build version.
- The dialog box layout is more compact but contains the same core fields.
How to Add or Edit the Tabber Name 🎸
Once the Score Information panel is open, you'll see a list of labeled text fields. Look specifically for:
- Title
- Subtitle
- Artist
- Album
- Music (composer credit)
- Words (lyricist credit)
- Tab or Tabber — this is the field you want
Type your name (or username, or initials) into the Tab field. This is the field Guitar Pro reserves specifically for the transcriber's credit.
Some users overlook this field because it's listed lower in the panel and doesn't affect playback at all — it's purely a metadata and display field. After entering the name, click OK or Apply to save the change to the file.
How the Tabber Name Displays in a Score
Where and whether the tabber name appears in the actual printed or exported score depends on a few variables:
| Setting | Effect on Tabber Name Display |
|---|---|
| Default layout | May or may not show tabber field on page 1 |
| Custom page header/footer | Can be manually configured to include tabber credit |
| Export to PDF | Reflects whatever is set in Score Information |
| Export to MusicXML | Metadata transfers but display depends on receiving software |
| Print settings | Header and footer options control visible fields |
In Guitar Pro 7.5 and 8, you can further control which metadata fields appear on the score by going to Stylesheet or Layout settings and toggling which header lines are visible. If the tabber name isn't showing up on your printed output, the issue is almost always a layout/stylesheet setting, not a missing entry in the Score Information panel.
Variables That Affect the Process
The exact steps and behavior you'll encounter depend on several factors:
Software version matters significantly. Guitar Pro 8 has a more visual, panel-based interface. Guitar Pro 6 uses older dialog boxes. The fields exist in both, but navigation differs.
Operating system can affect keyboard shortcuts and menu placement. Mac users may find some menus reorganized compared to the Windows version, though the core Score Information panel is present on both.
File format plays a role if you're working with imported files. A .gp5, .gpx, or .gp file may carry over metadata from an original source — meaning the Tabber field might already be populated with someone else's name, or it might be blank. Always check before sharing a file publicly.
Intended output changes how much the tabber field matters. If you're keeping a tab for personal practice, the field is optional. If you're uploading to a platform like Ultimate Guitar or sharing in a community, crediting the tabber is considered standard practice and sometimes required.
A Note on Shared and Downloaded Files 🎵
If you've downloaded a Guitar Pro file from a tab-sharing site and want to add your own name as a re-transcriber or editor, you'll follow the exact same steps — but be mindful of the original tabber's credit. Responsible practice means either keeping the original tabber name or clearly indicating that you've modified someone else's transcription.
Some communities and platforms that accept Guitar Pro file uploads have their own conventions for how tabber credits should appear, so it's worth checking those guidelines before finalizing your file.
When the Field Isn't Behaving as Expected
If changes to the Tabber field don't seem to save, the most common causes are:
- File is read-only — check file permissions on your operating system
- Working from a template — some templates lock certain metadata fields
- Software needs updating — older builds of Guitar Pro occasionally had bugs with metadata saving that were patched in later releases
The version of Guitar Pro you're running, the source of your file, and how you plan to share or print the score all shape what the process looks like — and whether the tabber name ends up visible where you expect it to be.