Recommendations for Software to Create a Song Book

[Tbushell]

@drNine

So far SongBook Pro works for me. I struggle a bit with including strumming patterns, e.g. Wonderwall. Do you have a hint how to include strumming patterns?

Some of these Apps let you embed special codes for things like strumming patterns.

Creating Lyric and Chord Sheets

I also need the bars above the sometimes, but I have found that you can put any annotation above the lyrics just by putting it in brackets, so something like: This [|] [Am]is [G]the [|] [C]way [|] renders as: | Am G | C | This is the way As you would expect. You can put other accents and things. In general anything with * in front of it is explicitly not a chord, but will go above the lyrics. Hope this helps.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to make this work with Songbook Pro, but found it to be only partially supported by the product…and eventually gave up on it.

But perhaps you will have better luck.

[Moloko126]

Thanks! I just recently started with SongbookPro and this post helped me.
I finally understand how to write the chords so they fit the lyrics without using double lines and writing out the chords above.

[stitch]

If you learn to write Chordpro format (it’s been around as long as computers) you can write out tabs and song sheet in note pad or similar programs and upload the to SongbookPro.
I think I posted a link to how to write in this format earlier in this thread.

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

@stitch

Chordpro format is the standard for most if not all of these Song Book type apps.
Once you know how to write in Chordpro(it’s really easy to learn) you can write you’re own tabs and song sheets in Note pad on your computer(mush easier than your phone or Tablet) and import them into which ever app you choose.

Here’s an over view of Chordpro Format.

LinkeSOFT SongBook Songs and Chords

From over a year ago.

[deiussum]

Thanks to this thread I’ve started using Songbook Pro as well. Here are a couple of tips I’ve found when playing with it that others might find helpful around showing tabs.

1. I found that sometimes when trying to copy tab into it, one of the lines would be messed up and not be in a fixed width font like the other lines. I noticed when that happened that Songbook Pro was automatically putting in the {sot} {eot} markers. (Start of Tab, End of Tab). When I manually placed these in the appropriate spot it fixed it up. So if you have anything you want displayed in a fixed font (e.g. ASCII tabs) just put them between a line that has {sot} at the start and another line at the end with {eot}.
2. I found that on my phone PDFs exported from Guitar Pro could be really small and hard to read. After playing around I found that you can export from Guitar Pro into ASCII tabs. Just use File → Export → ASCII. This will create a .txt file that you can import into Songbook Pro and have it display the tab in ASCII format, which to me is a little easier to read on a phone-sized screen. It’s not as pretty as a PDF, but I don’t always have the larger screen of my tablet available.

[SteveL_G99]

Hi Toby, I didn’t even finish the discussion thread, but immediately went and purchased SongBook Pro for my IPad Pro (12 inch diagonal screen) based on your recommendation. I know how many songs you have in your repertoire and decided that if works for you it must be useable for me. I have Guitar Pro, but that is not the best for chord/lyric charts and I just finished editing my ten songs for Grade 2 consolidation performance in MS Word, So this looks like it could be a useful tool.

[drNine]

Hi again,

does anyone have a hack for SongBookPro to align chords with tabs accordingly to help with finger placements.

This is my tab layout and placing chords above doesn’t align them correctly in the rendering.

{start_of_tab: “Intro”}
G G
e|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
G|-------0-------------------------|-------0-------------------------|
D|-----------0---------------------|-----------0---------------------|
A|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E|-3—3---------------------------|-3—3---------------------------|
{end_of_tab}

args even the forum kills the layout…

Just to clarify, the TAB itself looks good, just the alignment of the chords (G in this case) doesn’t work properly

[drNine]

Hm…even more weird, the problem just appears in the manager but not in the iPad app.
How is your workflow to import songs and correct/adapt them?
I thought the best way is import from UG using the iPad app. Then switch to the Manager running on my Windows PC to make adjustments. Unfortunately the manager doesn’t seem to show the same renderings as the app but editing on the iPad is a pain without keyboard etc.

[mattswain]

This is likely down to fonts.

If you use a proportional font then it looks more natural because thin letters like i take up less space than say a w. However to display tab this no good because you want all the characters to be the same width, a non-proportional font such as courier is what you need. It looks like it’s from an old fashioned computer display but it will make spacing tab easier

[drNine]

I don’t think I can change the fonts in SongBookPro manager?

[mattswain]

I don’t have the software so can’t comment on what it can do.

Don’t suppose you have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse lying around? The iPad can use them if you did. I use mine with external keyboard and mouse every day. In terms of software I just use Apple Notes now (probably doesn’t help you but that’s what I use)

[MAT1953]

There is an unofficial Facebook page for the software so it might be worth a look in there.
Michael

[Tbushell]

@mattswain

Don’t suppose you have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse lying around?

That’s what I do as well. Touch screen keyboards are an absolute nightmare for editing chord sheets and tabs.

Currently, I use Ultimate Guitar chord sheets as a starting point, and import them into Pages - Apple’s free word processor.

Extremely tedious and labour intensive, but I’m very fussy about learning from materials that are error free and formatted exactly the way I want. Pages gives me the power and total flexibility I need.

[drNine]

Thanks for your reply. I got another question. I try to make SongBookPro display the following chord in a chord diagram: x 4 0 2 3 0. This should be an Asus4/Db according to GuitarPro. I tried to use the define directive as follows: {define: Asus4/Db base-fret 1 frets x 4 0 2 3 0} but can’t make it work. If I use the chord “Asus4/Db” in my song SongBookPro displays an Asus4/C# in the chord diagram, maybe the closest it can find? Any suggestions?

P.S. with more testing it seems as if SongBookPro doesn’t interpret or use the “define” directive…

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

I tend not to add chord boxes to SBP but if I did I would just write them out in tab manually, like the intro (no chords). ie just stack the chord fingering and a reference to the chord name. Quite quick and easy IMHO.

As you can, sometimes needs a minor tidy up.

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

Plus you can also import PDFs

So if you have a PDF with the chord boxes . . . . . . .

[jjw]

@drNine

“Asus4/Db” in my song SongBookPro displays an Asus4/C#

This is the same chord, since C# = Db. Btw, Asus4/C# is the more common way to refer to it (because C# is in the A major scale).

[Tbushell]

@TheMadman_tobyjenner

just stack the chord fingering and a reference to the chord name

Can you explain further, or provide an example?

Maybe I’m missing something, but the tab example in your post looks like a riff to me, not chords.

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

Yes as I explained, it was an example of manually adding tab. ie type in all the characters.
To make it it clearer I just edited the tab and added an open E.

[Ontime]

I wish I had started this much sooner as well. Tab are 100% better. I have about 10 months worth of songs, that I will eventually need to go back and fix. I dont even know how to count my totals on SBP but there are a bigfoots skat worth. It will be a lot of work to go through and fix it all.

I guess the problem was tabs didnt have the lyric but were better for guitar and chords had lyrics but were only rhythm. I want both so i do tabs and add lyrics by hand. Another thing I do for every song is add all the correct infomation for the tempo and time signature in the advanced setttings Make sure the Key is correct. Stuff like that. I do the tags for drop tuning and have a few differnt wierd tags i made my self. Haha. That way when I have my guitar in certain tunings I can quickly find the song in that tuning and practice them making the most use of that time in that tuning.

Love this little program. It was you guys who turned me on to it last year way back in march 2024, maybe my 4th month playing.