Playback

Opening files, controlling playback, and navigating scores.

Opening files

Drop a Guitar Pro file (.gp, .gp3–.gp7, .gpx, .musicxml) anywhere on the page, or click Open file in the top bar. Previously opened files appear in the Songs library.

You can also paste a URL pointing to a .gp file directly into the library panel's URL field - Riffwork will fetch and load it.

Player controls

Action	Shortcut / control
Play / pause	`Space`
Stop & return to start	Stop button
Seek ±5 seconds	`←` / `→`
Go to bar	`G` → type bar number
Previous / next section	`Ctrl`+`[` / `]`
Playback speed	Speed slider (player bar)
Volume	Volume slider (player bar)

A–B loop

Set a loop range by pressing Shift+[ at the start and Shift+] at the end while the score is playing (or stopped at the right position). The range highlights in the minimap strip above the score.

Press L to toggle looping on/off without clearing the range. Press Escape to clear the loop range entirely.

You can also click and drag directly on the score to set the loop range - AlphaTab's native selection drives it.

The Loop Manager (in the Practice Tools panel) lets you save and recall named A–B ranges per file.

Speed trainer

The Speed Trainer automatically increases playback speed as you loop through a section. Open it from the Metro tab in the Tools panel (⊞).

Start % - initial playback speed
End % - target speed to reach
Step - how much to increase each time
Loops per step - how many loops to hold before advancing

The trainer detects loop-wrap events (a large backward jump in playback position) and auto-advances the speed slider accordingly.

Metronome & count-in

Press M to toggle the metronome click. Press C to toggle count-in (plays one bar of clicks before starting). Both can also be toggled from the player bar.

Track controls

Click a track button in the track bar below the score to solo it. Right-click any track button for the context menu:

Mute / Unmute - silences the track in playback (notation still shown)
Solo / Unsolo - isolates the track
Rename - edit the track name inline
Delete - removes the track from the score
Volume - per-track playback volume slider

Note: Mute and solo are playback-only. They don't affect the saved .gp file.

Mixer

Click Mixer next to the track bar to open a panel with every track's mute, solo, and volume laid out as channel strips, plus a master volume fader - the same controls as the right-click track menu, in one place instead of one track at a time.

Reference track

Open the Mixer and click + Add reference track to load an audio file (a rough recording, a full-band mix, whatever you're arranging against) and play it back alongside the tab. Useful for hearing a part in context while you edit, or for a bandmate to listen and rewrite against the real take.

The reference track has its own mute and volume in the Mixer, plus the Master fader.
It follows the tab's play/pause/seek/loop and adjusts if you change playback speed.
Use the -100ms / +100ms nudge buttons to line the recording's downbeat up with bar 1 if it doesn't start exactly on the beat.

Note: the reference track is session-only - it's not saved into the .gp file, so you'll need to re-add it if you reload the page.

View modes

Toggle the score view using the view buttons in the toolbar, or from the command palette:

Tab + Notation - shows both staves (default)
Tab only - tablature only
Notation only - standard notation only

Press D to invert the notation colors for a dark reading mode. Press H for sight-read mode (hides the tab staff so you read notation only).

Zoom

Use the − / + zoom buttons in the player bar to scale the score between 50% and 200%.

Fullscreen & focus mode

Press F to enter fullscreen (hides the header and player bar - score fills the viewport). Press Shift+F for focus mode. Press Escape or F again to exit.

Minimap

A 16px-tall strip above the score shows bar blocks colored by dynamics, with section markers and the current A–B range overlaid. Click anywhere on the minimap to jump to that bar.

Transpose

Use the ♭ / ♯ buttons in the toolbar (or Z / X keys) to transpose the score up or down in semitones. This affects both notation and playback. Click the semitone value to reset to 0. Transpose is not saved to the .gp file - it's a display/playback convenience.

Quick tuning presets

Click the ♭≡ button to access 12 drop/alternate tuning presets. Applying a preset changes the string tuning for display and playback.

VST plugin mode

Inside the Riffwork VST plugin, the tab follows your DAW's transport - hit play in your host and the score plays and scrolls in lock-step. A Follow button appears in the player bar (plugin only). Toggle it off to scrub the tab yourself without the host pulling it back.