Use standard sheet music paper to write your tab conversions on. Tabs are written on a six-line graph representing the strings of a guitar, with numbers written on the lines to indicate the frets to be played. Each of these frets represents a note you will need to convert to standard music notation. You can purchase sheet music paper at a local music store or even print it from an online website free of charge.
Memorize the lines and spaces on the music staff if you don't know them already. There are five lines and four spaces. The notes on the treble clef are F, A, C, E for the spaces and E, G, B, D, F for five lines. Notes above the staff follow the musical alphabet forward and notes below the staff follow the musical alphabet in reverse. The musical alphabet is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and the octave C. The note you want to use as a reference point as you convert your tabs is the C played on the fifth string of the guitar at the third fret. That note is placed on the first line below the music staff and all other notes will be placed in relation to that one.
Convert your tabs one bar at a time, identifying the notes your tabs represent and then placing them on your standard sheet music as standard music notation. If, for instance, you are converting a tab marking on the fourth string at the fifth fret, that note is a D. Place that note on your sheet music paper at the first space below the staff, which is the space above the reference C.
Use a musical note value reference chart to help you indicate note values (see Resources). Many tab pieces only indicate note names, not how long the notes are held out, while standard music notation indicates note timing values. You will need to consult your note value chart to determine whole notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes and mark the notes on your staff paper accordingly.
Transfer slide markings, chord diagrams, bend indications, and other guitar specific notation without converting. These markings remain the same for standard music notation.