Import a chord chart from plain text

The import accepts the format most common on tablature sites: a line of chords, the matching lyric line underneath, and sections written in brackets. You paste the text and the analysis handles the split into bars.

A line is treated as a chord line when at least four fifths of what it contains are valid chords. That threshold matters: it lets through a line carrying a passing annotation, while ruling out a lyric line that happens to contain a word like “Am” or “Do”.

Twelve labels are understood, in English and French alike: intro, verse, chorus, pre-chorus, bridge, outro, solo, interlude, instrumental and hook, along with the French forms couplet and refrain. Numbering is kept: “[Verse 2]” stays “Verse 2”.

Durations are not guessed at random: they come from the alignment of the text. A single chord on its line takes the whole bar. Two to four chords are spread according to the column gaps between them in the source, which reproduces the way these files are written. Beyond four chords on one line the alignment becomes too unreliable: each chord then gets one beat and the line is split into four-beat bars.

Plenty of clutter sits in these files. ASCII tablature, web addresses, strumming patterns, tempo markings and difficulty or tuning headers are stripped automatically. You can paste the whole page without tidying up first.

Two things, worth knowing before you start. Lyrics are not carried over: only the chords and the structure are. And the time signature is not inferred from the text — every imported chart arrives in four beats per bar. If your song is in three, set it afterwards in the editor.

The result is editable cell by cell: rename a section, stretch a chord over two beats, split a bar, delete one. This is the moment to put back the nuances the source text never carried.