ChordPro authoring guide

This page is the practical reference for writing or pasting a chart into BandBinder: the directives the app reads, chord syntax, what a pasted format turns into, and a first chart end to end. For the full ChordPro language spec, see Tools and community; for how a directive drives an app feature, see the directive-to-feature map.

First chart in 60 seconds

Open New Chart.
Type a title and artist.

Paste or type the body. A minimal chart is just chords in [brackets] sitting inline with the lyric text they land on:

{title: Rehearsal Runthrough}
{artist: The Band}
{key: G}
{tempo: 96}

{start_of_verse}
[G]Started the take with the [C]tape still rolling
[D]Counted us in on a [G]breath
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[C]Everybody hits the [G]downbeat together
[D]Nobody's checking a [G]chart
{end_of_chorus}

Save. Key and tempo chips read straight from {key}/{tempo} in the body above - there's nothing else to fill in.

Directives BandBinder reads

Directive	Notes
`{title: ...}` / `{artist: ...}`	Song library metadata.
`{key: ...}`	Initial key; re-spelled automatically when you transpose.
`{tempo: ...}`	BPM, editable from the Tempo chip / tap trainer.
`{time: ...}`	Time signature, e.g. `4/4`, `3/4`. Defaults to `4/4` if absent.
`{capo: ...}`	Fret number. Only changes the chord shape shown - it never changes the written key (a capo is a playing aid, not a transposition).
`{start_of_verse}` / `{end_of_verse}`	Verse section.
`{start_of_chorus}` / `{end_of_chorus}`	Chorus section.
`{start_of_bridge}` / `{end_of_bridge}`	Bridge section.
`{start_of_tab}` / `{end_of_tab}`	Verbatim tab block - nothing inside is parsed as a chord or directive.
`{start_of_grid}` / `{end_of_grid}`	Chord-grid section. Content is parsed like any other section: `[bracket]` chords are recognized (and transpose), and `{...}` lines are read as directives. Use a tab block instead if you need text preserved exactly as typed.
`{comment: ...}` / `{comment_italic: ...}` / `{comment_box: ...}`	A rehearsal aside rendered as text, not a lyric line.

Common short forms are recognized too ({t: ...} for title, {soc}/{eoc} for chorus, {sov}/{eov} for verse, and so on) - see the directive-to-feature map for the full list. A section can carry a label, e.g. {start_of_chorus: Chorus 2}, which shows up as that section's heading. Any directive BandBinder doesn't specifically recognize is kept as-is rather than dropped, so nothing you paste in is ever silently deleted.

Chord syntax

Chords sit inline in [brackets], directly before the lyric syllable they're played on:

[G]Line one lyric [D]text continues [Em]here

Root plus an open-ended quality suffix: [C], [Cm7], [Csus4], [Cadd9] all work - BandBinder doesn't restrict which qualities you write.
Slash-bass chords: [D/F#], [C/G].
Sharps and flats ([F#], [Bb]) and their enharmonic spellings are both recognized.
A chord with no lyric after it (an intro hit or turnaround) is fine on its own: [G] [D] [Em] [C].
Non-chord annotations like N.C. or % are preserved exactly as written and pass through transposition untouched.
Transposing a chart re-spells every chord and the {key} directive; {capo} is left alone on purpose, since the capo you're using and the key the chart is written in are independent choices.

Pasting from another source

Paste text into the chart field (or the New Chart box) and BandBinder detects the format and converts it to ChordPro automatically:

You paste	It converts to
ChordPro	Used as-is.
OnSong export (`Title:` / `Artist:` / `Key:` header fields, `Verse 1:` style section labels)	Header fields become `{title}`/`{artist}`/`{key}`/`{tempo}`/`{time}`/`{capo}` directives; labeled sections become `{start_of_verse}`/`{start_of_chorus}`/`{start_of_bridge}` environments.
Ultimate Guitar-style chord-over-lyrics (a chord line stacked above the lyric line it belongs to)	Each chord is merged inline into the lyric line beneath it, at the column it was typed above.
Genius lyric-page paste (`[Verse]`/`[Chorus]` tags, annotation links)	Section tags become the same `{start_of_*}` environments; Genius page furniture (view counts, "You might also like", embed artifacts) is stripped.
Plain text with no chords or markup	Kept as plain lyric lines - add chords afterward.

See Import formats for the in-app picker walkthrough.

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