How To Export MIDI From Guitar Pro [An Illustrated Guide]

Guitar Pro has a lot of cool features, many of which I already talked about in my other guide. One of them in particular though deserves a special entry because of how useful and cool it is, and it has to do with MIDI information.

This software has the option to export and import a typical Guitar Pro file into many different file formats, including PDFs, PNGs, TablEdit files, and more. You can even export MIDI for use in DAWs, which is exactly what I’m going to show you how to do now.

To export MIDI from Guitar Pro, all you have to do is click on File > Export > MIDI, and then choose “Desktop,” so the MIDI file is easy to find afterward. From there, you can load it into a DAW or wherever you need it. There are a few other things you should know though.

I’ll make sure to talk about a few of these in the rest of the article, but I’ll also show you a more illustrated guide to doing this exact same thing. It’s not hard at all. As I said, Guitar Pro is a very versatile tool that’s capable of it, so let’s get into it.

Exporting MIDI Out of Guitar Pro – A Step-By-Step Guide

The first thing you want to do is you want to have your Guitar Pro file open. Interestingly, Guitar Pro has the ability to export entire pieces of music and not just single tracks.

It’ll export a file that has many tracks and it won’t miss a thing – including harmonics [my guide].

The first time I used it, I was really impressed by this feature because it illustrates all the notes at the correct tempo, and it even uses the best VSTs.

Make sure you’ve downloaded all available sounds in your DAW because then you’ll be better equipped.

1) Click ‘File’ with your Guitar Pro File Open

This is how you bring up the Import and Export options which are how you Import and Export a lot of different file types. As I said in my list of Guitar Pro’s features, it has the ability to deal with a bunch of different kinds.

2) Click Export, and then MIDI

Once you’ve clicked File and you’ve brought up your list of options, you just have to choose the option, “Export,” and then “MIDI,” and you’ll then have to decide where you want to export the file.

3) Choose “Desktop” So You Can Easily Find the MIDI File

I pretty much always export files to my desktop because then it’s much easier to find. For whatever reason, Apple has made it so that files get exported to the ether, to the abyss, never to be found again. I imagine I’m not the only one who feels this way. That said, maybe it’s different if you’re using the Windows version.

4) Drag Your MIDI File Into Your DAW

Now you can drag your MIDI file back into your DAW if that’s what you plan on doing. I’m not sure what you intend to do with it, but that’s normally where people want to import a MIDI file.

Depending on the DAW you’re using, you’ll probably have the option of determining how you’ll import the file. For instance, if you’re using Garageband like what’s shown here, you’ll be given the option to import the tempo information.

You’ll want to click “Import Tempo,” at least if you want the file to be exactly like the Guitar Pro file. Once you’ve selected that option, you’ll be free to do what you wish with your MIDI file. Here’s what the final result will look like:

Using Guitar Pro For Other File Formats

As I said, you can use Guitar Pro to import and export other file formats as well. For one, you can import and export older Guitar Pro files like GP5, or you can export as a PDF, a PNG, or an MP3, depending on what you need.

Guitar Pro is capable of taking other file-formats including PowerTab, TablEdit, ASCII, and a few others too. This is how people fake guitar videos which is something that I talked about in my youtube video shown down below.

Essentially, what they do is they export a Guitar Pro file that’s normally impossible or extremely difficult to play, and then they import it into their DAW with really high-quality VSTs.

If it’s a great-sounding virtual software instrument, no one will be the wiser. From there, they just pantomime playing the instrument along to the Guitar Pro file. I have no opinion on this kind of thing, but I know a lot of people don’t like it.

Brief Guitar Pro Review + 3 Cool Features

Other Articles You May Be Interested In

• How to Change Tracks in Guitar Pro
• How to Add Text in Guitar Pro
• How to Open Guitar Pro Files Without Guitar Pro

Important Things to Note About Exporting MIDI From Guitar Pro

1) You Can Perform the Opposite Task As Well

As you can see, Guitar Pro’s ability to export MIDI works great. Another equally cool feature that works in the opposite way is to export a MIDI file from your DAW and then load it into Guitar Pro. In other words, backward compatibility is possible.

This means you can notate a MIDI file in guitar tablature from Garageband or another DAW in Guitar Pro, essentially saving a lot of time. If you’re using Garageband, in this case, you’ll know that you can do this with the Score Editor (my guide on this on Producer Society), but it won’t convert it into guitar tablature.

With a more advanced DAW like FL Studio or Logic Pro X, it’s possible to export as MIDI right out of the DAW without any additional steps, but if you wanted to do this in Garageband, you would have to use an AIF to MIDI converter first.

If you can’t find an AIF to MIDI converter, you could always use Melodyne 5 which you can access via a free trial. I’ve written a whole article on how to use Melodyne 5 on Producer Society.