How to Make a Printed Guitar Tab Book at Home

If you play guitar, you probably have a folder full of tab PDFs — downloaded from Ultimate Guitar, Songsterr, or scanned from books. They're scattered across your computer, and when it's time to practice, you're scrolling through files instead of playing.

What if you could turn all those tabs into a single, printed book that sits on your music stand?

The Problem with Loose Tabs

Loose PDF tabs are a mess. You print them out, and they end up in a pile. You put them in a binder, but the order makes no sense. You try to print double-sided to save paper, but then a 3-page song starts on the back of the previous song — forcing you to flip pages mid-riff.

A proper tab book solves all of this. Songs are organized into chapters, every multi-page song starts on the correct side for double-sided printing, and you get a table of contents to find anything instantly.

What You Need

• Your guitar tab PDFs (any number of songs)
• A printer that supports double-sided printing (or manual duplex)
• MakeMySongBook — a free online tool, no account needed

Step 1: Collect Your Tabs

Gather all the guitar tab PDFs you want in your book. Name each file clearly — the filename becomes the song title in the book. Something like Blackbird - Beatles.pdf works great.

Step 2: Upload to MakeMySongBook

Open the builder and drag your PDF files into the upload area. You can upload all your songs at once — MakeMySongBook handles the rest.

Step 3: Organize Into Chapters

Drag songs into the order you want. Group them into chapters — by genre, difficulty, artist, or whatever makes sense for your playing. Each chapter gets a divider page and appears in the auto-generated table of contents.

Some ideas for chapter organization:

• By difficulty: Beginner → Intermediate → Advanced
• By genre: Rock, Blues, Folk, Classical
• By artist: Beatles, Hendrix, Clapton
• By tuning: Standard, Drop D, Open G

Step 4: Design Your Cover

Give your book a title and pick the guitar artwork for the cover. MakeMySongBook has built-in instrument illustrations, color themes, and decorative elements. Your cover page prints as the first page of the PDF.

Step 5: Choose Your Format & Export

MakeMySongBook gives you two print formats, and handles page alignment for both:

Full Book (A4): Print double-sided on regular paper. The problem? If "Stairway to Heaven" has 3 pages, the next song starts on the back of page 3 — so you'd have to flip back to see page 1 and 2 together. MakeMySongBook fixes this by inserting a blank page after odd-page songs, so every song starts on a fresh left-right spread.

Booklet (A5): Pages are automatically reordered so you can print on A4, fold in half, and staple. You get a compact, bound booklet — perfect for the music stand. MakeMySongBook handles the page imposition so the pages come out in the right order after folding.

Pick your format, hit "Generate PDF", and your book is ready to print.

Printing Tips

• Paper: Standard 80gsm A4 works fine. For a more professional feel, try 100gsm.
• Printer settings: Select "Print on both sides" and "Flip on long edge".
• Binding: For a quick solution, use a 3-ring binder. For something more permanent, try comb binding or saddle stitching.

Frequently Asked Questions