Introduction

alphaTex is a plain-text notation format for alphaTab. You write a score as source code and alphaTab parses it into the same data model any other format produces.

Enable alphaTex loading by setting the tex option, or feed a string directly through the tex() method on the API. alphaTab reads the source from the element contents and parses it. You can also load it from a file the same way you load any other format.

alphaTex covers most of the notation features alphaTab supports. If a feature you need is missing, open a discussion on GitHub.

Start with the language syntax — it defines every term the rest of this section uses.

Showcase

The example below renders entirely from alphaTex source: the "Intro Build" lead guitar part of Iron Waltz, the alphaTab demo song.

\title "Iron Waltz"
\subtitle "Intro Build"
\artist "alphaTab"
\tempo 196
\track ("Lead Guitar" "Lead Gtr.") { instrument distortionguitar }
\tuning (Eb4 Bb3 Gb3 Db3 Ab2 Eb2)
\ts (3 4)
\section "Intro Build"
7.1.4{dy f} 14.1.8 12.2 14.2 12.2 |
:16 11.1{b (0 2)} -.1{b (2 0)} :8 11.1 12.2.4 :8 11.1 12.1 |
:16 11.1{h} 12.1{h} :8 11.1 12.2 14.2 16.2 14.2 |
2.1.4 4.1 6.1{v} |
7.1.4 7.2.8 7.1 9.1 7.1 |
:16 11.1{b (0 2)} -.1{b (2 0)} :8 11.1 12.2.4 :8 11.1 12.1 |
11.1.8 12.1 11.1 9.1 7.1 6.1 |
2.1.4 4.1 6.1{v}