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.