Songcraft is an online collaborative songwriting platform and tab builder. If you want to learn what we’re all about, take a minute to read our Introduction, then come back here!
Today, we’ll show you how to work with chords and progressions in Songcraft. Learn how to use powerful tools for ideation, playback, and more.
Adding chords to your song
The easiest way to add chords to your song is to type them in your editor. As you start to type a chord, Songcraft will recognize it and offer you suggestions:
For every chord in your song, you can:
- Double-click it it hear it played on guitar or piano, which you can toggle in your preferences.
- Hover your mouse over it to see fingerings. You can change the instrument or tuning in your preferences.
To see fingerings for all chords in your song, you select Show all chord charts in your preferences:
There’s one more cool feature that you should know about: when you add chords to your song, Songcraft automatically predicts your song’s key.
You can then use that key (or any other key) in the sections below.
Chord Explorer
Navigate to the Chord Explorer tab of your toolkit.
Here, you’ll find many of the chords that are commonly used in your key. You can also select the key and enter it yourself. Suggestions include triads, sevenths, and borrowed chords, which in this case come from C Minor.
You can drag any of these chords directly into your song.
Progression Explorer
Navigate to the Progression Explorer tab of your toolkit.
Here, you can press Generate to explore one of over 1000 chord progressions in your key.
Click an individual chord to hear it, or press the Play button to play through the entire progression. Press the star Save button to the right to save a progression for later.
You can drag any of these chords directly into your song.
Transposing your song
In your toolbar, you can set your song’s key. You can also transpose your entire song a half-step up or down with a single click.
When you click the transpose arrows, every chord in your song will be transposed along with the key.
For example, if you press the down arrow in this case, your key will become B Major, your F chords will become E chords, your E chords will become Eb chords, etc.
Now you’re an expert in using chords in Songcraft!
What are you waiting for?!
If you haven’t already, head over to Songcraft to get started. Invite your friends and cowriters, and make something great!
We’re always looking for feedback, and we’d love to hear what you’re working on. Reach out via the chat widget on our site or email us at support@songcraft.io.