Help
Using SongNote
Everything you need to go from lyrics to a marked-up sheet, and from a sheet to the stage.
Add a song
Choose New song, give it a title and type or paste the lyrics. Leave a blank line between verses. You can also open a .txt or Word (.docx) file. Under More details you can add the artist, key, BPM, length and How to sing it, a short note shown in italics under the title, such as "Breathily, with urgency".
To change the words later, use Edit lyrics. Marks stay on their words as you edit.
Pick words
- Mouse: click a word, or drag across several. Drag to the top or bottom edge and the lyrics scroll.
- Touch: tap a word, then another to pick everything between.
- Double-tap a word for its whole line; long-press for its whole block.
Then choose a tool from the bar at the bottom. Hover over a mark on the sheet to see what it means.
The marks
The tools are grouped by tab. Frequent holds the six you use most, learnt as you work.
| Tab | Tools |
|---|---|
| Dynamics | Very quiet, Quiet, LOUD, VERY LOUD, Crescendo (louder), Decrescendo (quieter), Fortepiano (loud-to-quiet) |
| Register | Chest, Head, Mixed, Falsetto: a small symbol above each word |
| Delivery | Ahead of or behind the beat, Belt, Breathe (β), Hold vowel, Phrase break /, Rest after line, Slow, Slur, Staccato, Vibrato |
| Pitch | Up, Down, Bend, Run / riff (choose 1 to 6 peaks), Scoop, Slide up, Slide down |
| Notes & brackets | Raise octave, Repeat bracket (×2 to ×6), Custom bracket, Line note, Note above word |
Tap a tool again on the same words to take it off. Undo and Redo sit on the right of the bar (Ctrl+Z / ⌘Z), with Clear notes, Clear bracket, Clear section and Clear all, which keeps your lyrics.
Sections, brackets and notes
Pick some lines and choose a type on the Section tab: Intro, Verse, Pre-chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Solo, Outro or your own. Each has a colour and always shows its name, so it reads in black and white too.
A bracket runs beside several lines: Raise octave on the left, repeats on the right. A line note sits between lines, for example "Guitar, 2 bars", with or without a rest. Right-click a line note to change or remove it.
Font and emphasis
The Font tab has Bold, Italic and Underline (Ctrl+B, I, U), and Bigger and Smaller: one click is 15%, two is 30%, and a third sets the word back. Song font changes the whole song to one of six fonts. Pick the default for new songs in Settings.
Page view and printing
Switch to Page to see the sheet exactly as it prints. In Sheet settings choose A4 or Letter, columns, text size, theme, a key of the marks, and how many pages to fit. Print, or save as a PDF.
Sets and performing
Put songs in a set in the order you'll sing them. Add a start time, breaks and notes between songs, and print the running order. Choose Perform to sing from your tablet: one song per page, big Previous and Next buttons, the next song shown at the bottom, and the screen kept awake. Switch to light-on-dark for a dim stage. Sets need Pro.
Keeping your songs safe
- Saved as you go. There's no Save button. Every change is written safely, so a crash never leaves half a song.
- Automatic backups. When SongNote opens it keeps a copy of your songs if anything changed, the last 14 copies.
- Recently deleted. A deleted song can be brought back until you empty it.
- Where songs live. On Windows, in Documents\SongNote songs, so uninstalling never takes them. You can move the folder into OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive to share it between computers.
- Moving to a new computer. Use Share to send songs and sets as files, or copy the songs folder.
Questions
Does SongNote find lyrics for me?
No. Lyrics are copyrighted, so you type, paste or open your own. Your words stay on your device.
Do I need an account?
No. There's no sign-in, and SongNote doesn't send your songs anywhere.
What happens if Pro ends?
Nothing is lost or hidden. Every song still opens, can be edited and printed. You just can't add more than five songs or make new sets until you renew.
How do I cancel Pro?
Pro renews through your app store. Cancel it in your Apple ID subscriptions, or in your Microsoft account's services and subscriptions.
Still stuck? Email info@songnote.studio and tell us what you were trying to do.