1 Overview

The smartChord Song Writer turns songwriting into a piece of cake. Whether you are an experienced composer or just getting started, it gives you everything you need to write and arrange complete songs — from the first chord idea to a polished performance.

For the complete feature list, see the Song Writer Overview.

The Song Writer in action — scale circle on top, song structure below

2 Part of the smartChord Toolbox

The Song Writer is one tool in a large toolbox where all the tools are tightly integrated. From chords, scales, and arpeggios to a metronome, tuner, ear training, and the Songbook — everything works together seamlessly. Your songs written here flow straight into the Songbook and Set List for rehearsal and live performance.

Songwriting made easy — focus on your music, let smartChord handle the rest

3 User Interface

The Song Writer screen is split into four areas designed to keep chord exploration and song arrangement side by side.

3.1 Screen Areas

• Chord selection area (top) — A resizable area that provides the chords for your song via Circle of Fifths, Scale-Circle, or diatonic chord lists
• Song structure area (middle) — The scrollable main area where you build the song structure and place chord progressions block by block
• Toolbar (bottom) — Quick access to time signature, BPM, playback, settings, text editor, undo/redo, and the edit-mode toggle
• Menus (top right) — Manage your songs and adjust settings

For a full walk-through of every button and area, see User interface design.

Songwriting made easy — focus on your music, let smartChord handle the rest

4 Find the Right Chords

The chord selection area at the top offers three powerful ways to discover chords that sound good together. Tap any chord to select and hear it, and use the settings button to change the key, scale, or chord structure. You can even rotate the circle to switch the key.

4.1 Circle of Fifths and Scale-Circle

Chords in the Circle of Fifths often sound good together because of their shared tones and harmonic relationships. The Scale-Circle extends this principle to other diatonic scales — natural minor, modal variations, and hundreds more — to explore new harmonic colors and moods.

• Rotate the circle to switch the key instantly
• Tap any wedge to select and hear the chord
• Open settings to change key, scale, or chord structure
• Major and minor are most common, but hundreds of scales make the difference

4.2 Diatonic Chords

Diatonic chords are derived from the notes of a scale and form a family of chords that share the same notes. They provide a solid foundation for composition while leaving ample room for creativity. In the Song Writer, diatonic chords are grouped by their root note so you can quickly browse variations like C, Cmaj7, Csus2, or C5.

Use the toggle button in the top-left of the chord area to switch between the Scale-Circle and the diatonic chord list.

Read more in Find the right chords.

Scale-Circle with the selected chord shown on a staff

Diatonic chords grouped by root note

5 Develop the Song Structure

A new song starts with a verse and chorus by default. You can then add, rename, reorder, or delete blocks — and within each block you manage one or more chord lines.

5.1 Typical Song Blocks

• Verse — Introduces the narrative and sets up the chorus
• Chorus — The memorable, catchy part that often contains the main hook
• Pre-chorus — Optional transition that builds tension into the chorus
• Bridge — A departure from the verse/chorus pattern for variety
• Outro — The concluding section: a repeat, a fade-out, or a unique ending

5.2 Edit Mode

Activate edit mode with the pencil toggle in the bottom toolbar. While edit mode is on, every block and every line shows a menu button (⋮) that lets you add, delete, move, copy, or paste blocks and lines. Tap a block’s name to rename it.

• Block menu — Delete block, move up/down, copy block, add block
• Line menu — Delete line, move up/down, copy line, paste line, add line, add chord progression (via Song Analyzer)

For the full list of structural tips, see Develop the song structure.

Block menu — add, delete, move, or copy a block

Line menu — manage individual chord lines

6 Find the Chord Progression

With edit mode active, tap any chord or rest to open the floating toolbar. From here you add, replace, move, copy, or delete chords — and play with ideas freely, since every change can be undone and redone.

6.1 Floating Toolbar Actions

• Delete — Remove the selected chord or rest
• Replace — Swap the chord (opens a submenu with more options)
• Move left / right — Shift the chord within the line
• Split — Place multiple chords in one bar
• Copy — Duplicate the chord
• Add — Insert a new chord after the selection

6.2 Replace Submenu

The Replace submenu (also available for Add) offers three ways to set a chord:

• Replace with a rest (shown as ‘▄’ — the player silences the audio here)
• Replace with the chord currently selected in the circle above
• Replace with a chord you type in as text

6.3 Rests

Rests work just like chords — you can select them, change them, move them, or delete them. They let you create silences and breathing room within your progression.

For more on progression building, see Find your chord progression.

Rests in addition to chords — the player stays silent here

Floating toolbar — all chord and rest actions in one place

Replace submenu — rest, selected chord, or text input

Building the progression — chord by chord

7 Fine-tune the Rhythm

Add tension, rhythmic interest, or emphasise certain lyrics by changing chords within a bar. You can split a chord into multiple chords and adjust each one’s duration to create syncopation or pickup patterns.

7.1 Split a Chord

• Select the chord or rest you want to split
• Use the Split action in the floating toolbar
• The selected chord is doubled afterwards — now change one of the copies to a different chord

7.2 Change Duration

• Open the duration action from the floating toolbar (music-note icon)
• Drag the chord boundaries on the ruler to set each chord’s length within the bar
• The small number shown under a chord represents its time portion of the bar — no number means the default 1

After Split — the selected chord is doubled

Split submenu — place multiple chords in one bar

Three different chords now sit inside the line

Drag the chord boundaries to change their durations

Duration shown under the chord — G₃ fills three quarters of the bar

8 Get Inspiration from Other Songs

Stuck for ideas? The integrated s.mart Song Analyzer inspects any song from your Songbook or from the largest internet song catalogs and extracts its chord progressions — ready to paste into your own song.

8.1 Add a Chord Progression

1. In edit mode, open the line menu (⋮) on a chord line
2. Choose Add chord progression
3. The Song Analyzer opens and lists the detected progressions, ordered by how often they appear in the song
4. Confirm with the checkmark to add the chosen progression to your song

The s.mart Song Analyzer is also available standalone from the Google Play Store. A walkthrough video is on the YouTube channel @smartChord.

Line menu — tap “Add chord progression”

Song Analyzer — detected chord progressions ranked by frequency

The progression imported into a new line

9 Playback

Hit Start in the toolbar to listen to your chord progression at any time. The time signature and BPM define the speed.

9.1 During Playback

• A progress bar shows the current position within the song
• The currently playing chord is highlighted in the structure
• Tap any chord at any time to jump to it or to hear how it fits into the progression
• Stop the playback at any moment with the same button

Playback in action — the current chord is highlighted

10 Write the Lyrics

Add lyrics with the integrated Lyrics Pad. The pad stores your song in ChordPro’s plain-text format — the same format used by the Songbook — so chords and lyrics are in perfect sync.

10.1 Word-Finder

The built-in Word-Finder helps you pick the right words. Search by:

• Rhyme — Words that rhyme with your chosen term (grouped by syllable count)
• Synonym — Words with similar meaning
• Antonym — Words with the opposite meaning
• Starts with / ends with / contains — Words matching specific letter patterns

10.2 ChordPro Format

You can open a song directly in the text editor using the T button in the toolbar. Mark structural blocks with directives like {start_of_verse} and {start_of_chorus}, and write chord-over-lyric lines as:

C        | G .3       Em   | F
With strings of steel and wood so fine,

Use pipes (|) for bar lines and the period-number notation (.3) to set individual chord durations within a bar. For all ChordPro details see Edit your song textually.

Lyrics Pad with the Word-Finder — rhymes for “glow”

The finished song in the Song Writer view

11 Perform Your Song

When your song is ready, open it in the smartChord Songbook — one of the most powerful songbooks available. Use it for rehearsal and for the stage.

11.1 Songbook & Set List

• Organize your songs in a Set List for rehearsal and gigs
• Use the Set List link to keep the set list synchronized across your bandmates’ devices
• Control the Songbook with Bluetooth and MIDI foot pedals for hands-free performance
• Share the song with trusted musicians for feedback, or present it through the online song viewer in any browser

For more on the Songbook and Set List, browse the Songbook documentation.

Your finished song in the smartChord Songbook — ready for stage

12 Tips & Shortcuts

A handful of small tricks can make your Song Writer sessions much faster.

• Build on an existing song — Copy a song from the Songbook and paste it into the Song Writer editor. Only marked blocks (verse, chorus, interlude, …) appear in the Song Writer view
• Use repeat directives — Instead of rewriting recurring sections, insert a repeat directive to reference a block — less clutter and smaller files
• Pick your instrument — Over 100 instrument options are available in the settings for tailored chord voicings and sound
• Customize chord colors — Adjust the color scheme in the appearance settings for better visual clarity on stage or in rehearsal
• Custom chord fingerings — Need the same chord with different voicings in one song? Create a custom chord under an alternate name, insert it where needed, and replace the fingering for that custom chord with your preferred voicing

For more ideas, visit the full Song Writer tips page or the How to write a song guide.