My 900-Song Songbook Now In ChordPro
 

I’ve posted about my songbook before a couple of times but I just finished a pretty big project and for the sake of new members, or those who weren’t aware:

I have this Songbook. It started out around 1997 as a simple MS-Word document with just chords and lyrics. Then I added all the chord diagrams. As it grew over the years and became unwieldy I added categories and internal hyperlinks so I could move around within the document more easily.

A while back I revised it to add a YouTube link to an original recording of the song, added the intros and instrumental passages, and rekeyed everything to match the recording so I could (much to the chagrin of my wife and dog and probably the neighbors) play and sing along. Yesterday I finished the latest iteration which is a version in ChordPro format so now I can annoy everyone on an iPad app in any room of the house.

A few geezers and I get together now and then to make fun of each others guitar playing abilities - there may also be beer involved - and about ten years ago convinced me to put my songbook on-line so others can find it. Since then it’s been downloaded thousands of times.

I’m old, it’s free, and I want nothing in return – just a hobby of mine which I enjoy sharing. It’s dedicated to the guy who got me started playing guitar 45 years ago and is sort of my way of giving back. I also live in a cold climate where winter seems to last about 13 months and since I can no longer ski it gives me something to do until the ice is off the water and I can fish again. I digress.

My songbook now has almost 900 songs, mostly folk, pop/rock, and country from the 60’s-80’s but a little bit of everything. There are three “Big Books” which contain all of the songs. One is in MS-Word format and the other two are PDFs. Individual PDF songsheets and ChordPro files are also available. There are two versions, one for more experienced players and a separate Lite version for those just starting out.

If you know someone who might find it enjoyable it’s all free for the taking. There is a link below (if the link's not there you can also find it in the Contact area of my profile or by googling “songbook19”).

Cheers,

A. T.

https://songbook19.my-free.website/

So selfless of you. We need more folks like you in this world.

Very cool to have. Thanks for posting.

A nice legacy you are leaving. Thanks.

Thanks so much, that's very kind of you. I figure you transcribed about 20 songs/year for each of the past 45 years ....

Amazing, so wonderful and generous. And not to get all new agey or philosophical here, but this is an example of the human quality of abundance mentality. That is, you've given away a huge "slice of your pie," but that doesn't leave you with none. There's plenty of pie for everyone. We need more of this thinking.

Thank you, Alvin, for your dedication and generosity.

Thank you Alvin for your tremendous work and generosity. It is a real gift to all of us who sift through online resources and try to find accurate transcriptions (and recognize the inaccuracies).

Wow. What a collection. Kudos to you for putting in the effort to do this and for sharing it!

That’s more songs than the radio stations have! Judging by what they play!�� Cool gesture!

Thanks for this! A lot of great songs in here.

I join other in thanking you for your dedication and generosity in sharing this with us. May you be blessed beyond measure for your graciousness.

Thanks so much for this and the many hours it must have taken to produce.

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

Any tips on how to open these .PRO files?

Thanks for doing this. But….not being a computer whiz, how should i be downloading your book? I tried the PDF but after 2hours, I bailed. Might anyone know what I am supposed to be doing? Using an IPad Pro (512 gig).
Thanks

A lot of the value of this version is that it is in Chordpro format. You need to download an app that can read that format. There are many, but this is the one that I use

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/songbo...ro/id392888837

Well worth the 11 bucks IMHO. the list management is pretty good, the ability to transpose is valuable if you need that, the ability to print .pdf versions to distribute is great. The ability to place chords EXACTLY where you want them is worth going to chord pro form - you can't get that with pdf or with Word.

John, I just sent you a PM with more information and my email address. But also see below about getting an app for your iPad which I did not talk about.


For everyone else:

If you have MS-Word, the doc files should work fine. If not, then use any of the PDF versions (and especially if you're using iPad).

The CHO files are of no value to anyone unless you have and are using the ChordPro program (which itself is also posted). There is a read me first text file explaining this.

The PRO files are meant for use with an app. They should import to just about any app that is based on ChordPro but the link SSJK provided is for SongBook by LinkeSoft and is the very same app I use as my test bed when writing the PRO files in ChordPro format. It works well and is also available for Android and Windows PC.

Alvin

And this fellow deserts our thanks. I had some issues getting it loaded and he sent pictures with instructions, Twice!
THANKS again….