Importing songs
The import dialog
Hitting the Import button will bring the following dialog:
Importing songs can be done:
- by copy/pasting content in the input box on the left side (typically a chord chart that you will find on another website)
- by selecting a file on your hard drive, for example, a ChordPro file
The right side of the import dialog will show a preview of the input converted in the ChordMark format. If the conversion doesn't look right, you can adjust the input format:
- Detect: try to automatically detect the chord chart format. If it does not work, use one of the following options.
- Bracketed Chords: use this setting if the input source is in the ChordPro format, eg, with chords encoded between square brackets directly in the lyrics
- Chords over lyrics: use this setting for most chord charts found on the internet, including the ones from the Ultimate Guitar website.
Of course, recognizing if the conversion "looks right" or not requires a bit of practice with the ChordMark format.
Once you are happy with the settings, hit the IMPORT button in the top right corner.
Encoding rhythm information
Since ChordMark is the only chord chart format that encodes rhythm information, you will need to add this information manually to each chord symbol after importing a song. There are three possibilities, depending on the duration of a chord:
Exactly one bar
Lucky you! There is nothing specific to do here, since by default, ChordMark will interpret a chord symbol as lasting a full bar.
loading...Less than one bar
Use the chord duration marker . to specify how many beats the chord should be played.
You might also need to specify the song time signature if different than 4/4.
More than one bar
A bit of extra work is needed here.
You need to repeat the chord as many times as it should be played for the duration of a full bar.
Use the bar repeat symbol % to make that process quicker.
For a better result, chord position markers should also be repeated in the lyric line.