Best Sites for Guitar Chords and Tabs

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Guitar players learned how to play a song by listening to it over ... and over ... and over again back in the day. Most serious musicians still advocate that trial-and-error method, but the internet makes it a lot easier these days for beginners to just pick up the guitar and play.

It's hard to find quality sites for guitar tablature and chords all the same. Here are some of the best we've found, although none of them are perfect.

Cowboy Lyrics

Cowboy Lyrics features up-to-date guitar chords on the latest country releases and a library of material by older artists. Its clean interface distinguishes it from the cluttered look of similar sites. That said, the search function could use some work. If you search for guitar tabs, you often wind up with song lyrics instead.

Chordie

Chordie doesn't specialize in country music, but there's still a lot to like here. Web-surfing pickers will enjoy less aggressive advertising and a comprehensive collection of tabs across genres. This site has a no-frills interface that many users will love. On the other hand, it might be a little too simple for some tastes.

Johnny Cash Chords

This easy-to-navigate fan site should be your first stop for Johnny Cash chords. The songs are listed alphabetically and there are no ads to bog you down. Unfortunately, the site's library of songs is less than comprehensive. If you're looking for a lesser-known Cash tune, you may have to go elsewhere.

Country Tabs

This tablature site also specializes in country music, but it seems to have a greater selection of songs than Cowboy Lyrics. Country Tabs also features a built-in guitar tuner, auto-scrolling, and an application that shows the fingering for the chords. But all that comes with some big drawbacks. The site is plagued with ads. Expect pop-ups every time you search for a song and animated advertisements with sound. Those bells and whistles put a drag on the load times of the website and they're unnecessary for many guitar players. 

Honorable Mentions

Although they're not limited to country songs, there are some other good sites out there.

  • Heartwood Guitar Instruction doesn't have an extensive library, but it's a good site for beginners. It's mostly classic songs, and it offers free lessons. You'll be an accomplished guitarist in no time.
  • E-Chords has some convenient search features. You can even search for a line or two from the song if you can't recall the title. The display is user-friendly. 
  • Ultimate Guitar offers some neat interviews and reviews, and you'll have a lot of community support. It has a great Top 100 section, and more than a million songs are available here overall. 

There are literally hundreds of tablature sites out there. If you find that none of these really suit you, Top 100 Tab Sites has – well, 100 tab sites you can visit and try out.