SongBook 1.5 Your lyrics and chords on Android smartphones and tablets

Installation And Upgrade

SongBook runs on all Android devices with Android 2.0 or later, including Android tablets, and the Kindle Fire. Please download it from the Android Market. Buying via the Android Market will ensure you get updates automatically. Alternatively, if the Android Market is not available for you, you can install and purchase it directly from our web site.

SongBook requires the following permissions: Internet (for Dropbox sync), Write external storage (for writing song files), Wake Lock (for keeping the screen on when showing a song), Check License and Get Accounts for license checking.

Your songs will not be removed when you remove, update or reinstall the SongBook app.

See the bottom of this page for the full version history.

Where To Find Songs For SongBook

SongBook understands the widespread chordpro song format where chords are written in square brackets within the lyrics. Unfortunately, we cannot provide songs on this site due to copyright restrictions. However, the Internet has huge archives of songs in chordpro format: simply type the song name and file extension pro or chordpro into your favorite search engine, e.g.

"<song title>" ext:chopro

[Em]Alas, my [G]love, you [D]do me [Bm]wrong,

A detailed explanation of the chordpro format as supported by SongBook is available here.

Note: Our application SongBook Windows can help you edit chordpro songs and convert tab songs on a bigger screen.

How To Get Songs Into SongBook

SongBook stores all songs in a directory called /SongBook on your device's SD card or shared USB drive. Simply connect your Android device to your computer, and activate the USB drive connection. Then copy your song files to the /SongBook directory. (A sample song Greensleeves.pro is automatically put into that folder when you first start SongBook). Note that, for technical reasons, you cannot use the SongBook app on the device while the directory is shared via USB.

The following file extensions are understood by SongBook:

*.pro, *.chordpro, *.chopro, *.txt (native chordpro files)

Dropbox Sync

If you have a Dropbox account, you can easily synchronize your song collections with SongBook. Simply enter your Dropbox account data in Settings, and copy your song files to the /SongBook directory and its subdirectories in your dropbox. Use the Synchronize menu entry (or toolbar button) of the song list to start the synchronization. Press the back button to stop the sync any time.

Note: Synchronization is two-way and includes deletions and modifications. You can sync multiple SongBook apps with one Dropbox account. For technical reasons, subdirectories of the SongBook directory (categories) can only be renamed/removed on the device.

Song List

Songs are structured in categories. Categories are somewhat similar to folders on your computer. You can group songs in categories to help you organize them e.g. by genre or difficulty. Just like folders on your computer, deleting a category will delete all songs in it. In addition, songs can also be organized in playlists.

Use Edit Categories on the Categories dropdown to add, rename or remove categories. Removing a category will also remove all songs in that category. Songs that are not assigned to a specific category will appear in category - Unfiled -. To put a single song in a different category, tap-and-hold the song in the song list and select Change Category from the popup menu.

The song list displays title/subtitle and key of all songs in the selected category. SongBook determines the key by looking at the first chord in the song, or the value of the {key: ...} directive.

You can search for a song by title or full text.

Song View

The song view displays the current song with lyrics and chords. Tap on a chord to look up the chord definitions.

Chord, lyrics, and tab font and text/background color can be changed by selecting Settings from the song list menu.

On a tablet you can tap anywhere on the screen to show/hide the action toolbar at the top.

You can also change the font sizes for the current song with the familiar "pinch" gesture (Android 2.2 and higher). Use the Save Zoom menu button to save the current zoom level with the song (as a {zoom-android: } directive) so that this particular song will always display in the selected size.

You can optionally show a chord band at the bottom of the screen. This chord list shows the easiest variant for each chord currently visible on the screen.

Unlike zooming of pictures, zooming of songs in SongBook will trigger a re-layout of the song, so you will never have to scroll horizontally. SongBook will automatically switch to multi-column mode if the song is narrow enough and would fit without scrolling on the screen.

Note: SongBook will automatically increase the auto power-off (idle) timeout while a song is displayed.

Transpose

You can transpose the song into a different key by tapping on the Transpose menu button. Tap on the buttons to change the tuning in half-tone steps. Tap on the Save button to permanently save the changed chords in the song.

Swipe left/right or double-tap in the middle part of the screen left/right to move to the next/previous song in the currently selected category/playlist.

Auto-Scrolling

The play button on the Auto-Scroll menu will start auto-scrolling the song. You can adjust the tempo with the slider. If you have found a suitable scrolling speed, tap Save to save the current scroll tempo in the song (as a {tempo-android: } directive). To temporarily pause the current scrolling, double-tap anywhere on the screen

Playlists 

Playlists (aka sets) are collections of songs for a special purpose, e.g. a concert, or training. Removing a song from a playlist does not delete the song from either the device (it remains in its category), nor any other playlist the song might be in. Songs can be in multiple playlists, and in fact, can occur multiple times in a single playlist.

Select Edit Playlists from the playlist dropdown to add/remove playlists. Use the Add Songs menu to add multiple songs to a playlist.

To change the order of songs in a playlist, tap-and-hold on the playlist and select Re-Order, then use the arrow buttons to move the song to a different position.

Note: Playlists contain only references (title and subtitle) to the real song. If you remove the song, it is not automatically removed from the playlists but can no longer be viewed.

Chords and Instruments

SongBook comes with comprehensive chord libraries for guitar, ukulele (C, D tuning, Bariton), mandolin, banjo, and piano.

Chords are sorted by base pitch. Each chord can have several variations. SongBook knows about identical pitches (e.g. C# = Db).

To change the currently used instrument, select Settings - Instrument. This instrument is used for all chord lookups.

You can extend the string chord libraries with your own chords. SongBook comes with a chord editor that lets you define fingerings, base fret and muted strings. The search button on the right will look up the currently defined chord in the chord library.

User defined chords will always show up in the first position in the chord view. Note: if you need a special chord only for a certain song, you'd better define the chord in the song with {define: G 1 3 2 0 0 0 3} rather than in the chord library.

The added chords are saved in a file <instrument>.chords.txt in the documents folder. You can edit it with a text editor. If you want your extra chords appear in the built-in SongBook chord libraries, please send us this file.

Feedback

Do you have a song that is not rendered correctly? Is an important chord missing in the chord database? Please let us know.

Version History

• 1.5
  - Extensible chord libraries, compatible with SongBook for iOS and Windows
  - Optionally show only lyrics/only chords in song view
  - Support for different line endings (Mac/Windows/Unix)
  - Minor fixes
• 1.4
  - Dropbox support
  - Tablet support
• 1.3
  - piano chords
  - optional chord band at bottom of song view
  - double-tap while auto-scrolling will pause for 1 sec
  - edit menu with chordpro controls
• 1.2
  - double tap to scroll up/down/next/prev song
  - better scrolling
  - hide auto-scroll view at end of song
  - remember list position when returning from song view
  - fix: could no longer zoom if song had a saved zoom factor
  - fix: crash after editing a song
• 1.1
  - search songs
  - keep display on while showing a song
• 1.0
  - First public version