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  #16  
Old 09-24-2018, 05:51 PM
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justonwo justonwo is offline
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I have found Guitar Pro to be quite a great program. I've been using it for about 10 years. I transcribe all my miscellaneous tabs into Guitar Pro, which allows me to edit, transpose, and slow down difficult passages if I'm learning them. It can also export into pdf and a variety of other formats, with or without tab.

It's relatively easy to use. If you want one program to manage all your music, I would highly recommend it. There's also a companion app that is quite usable on an iPad (but hard to use on the phone).
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  #17  
Old 09-25-2018, 10:22 AM
Johnny K Johnny K is offline
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Originally Posted by jafranks View Post
+1 for Ultimate Guitar. It checks all your boxes (I believe) except for the "whole song on one page" bit. There is a scroll function (with adjustable scroll speed), however, that should obviate that need. Works well across multiple platforms. I've used it on PC, Apple, and Samsung devices.
+2 for UG. Love that scroll function. Their printer function is also awesome for how it formats the song. I have a computer full of PDFs of songs I printed off the site.

I like the transpose function too. It came in handy when bringing songs to a bluegrass camp i attended in the spring. Needed to bring a lot of G-C-D stuff.

But...I still keep a binder of printed out songs. My only gripe about this method is not UG's fault but Don McLean's. American Pie takes 5 pages. Dang that song is long!
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  #18  
Old 09-25-2018, 11:28 AM
tippy5 tippy5 is offline
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I like to copy and paste net gotten songs onto a word processing program (Microsoft Word).

I then organize the song lyrics chords by:

- Fitting it to one sheet (maximize font size ... Repeat Chorus...etc..)

- Annotating and organizing everything for 3' away view. (Some songs need 2 pages).

- I then correct the document chord positions. I listen to the song and play along with my acoustic. I then put the chord letter right above the syllable where the chord changes.

If I need the songs for a gig set list I print and binder the songs on card stock paper. The thicker paper will stand on its own, even in light wind. Center the binder on my music stand with a 5 watt light. Low height- at my knee level.
Not good to have the binder way up at your chest occluding the musicians presence.

It all starts with page organization per song lyric demand. Some fonts are 9.5 and some are 20.
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  #19  
Old 09-25-2018, 11:44 AM
Everton FC Everton FC is offline
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This is what I do. And I would not do this, if I had the means to do otherwise, trust me!

If/when I write something new, I go to my wife's Mac, go to Photo Booth, record, and transfer the recording to a USB drive. Lyrics and songs are captured and stored this way, for me. I don't have any sheet music/chord progressions documented.

Someday, I will have a better system!
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  #20  
Old 09-25-2018, 11:58 AM
merlin666 merlin666 is offline
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I am pleased to see all these heads ups for Ultimate Guitar. I have used the UG website and tabs for many years with a computer, but their mobile version is very aggressive with pushing the app and when I checked it out quite some time ago on Google Play, there were many complaints about their excessive ads and requirement for premium membership. So I stuck with SmartChord and OpenSong that work quite well with importing songs from UG and other sites as well, though unfortunately not pdf files (I use Fakebook app for that). But I will revisit the UG app and hopefully it's less aggressive and more functional now.
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  #21  
Old 09-25-2018, 12:03 PM
jafranks jafranks is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by merlin666 View Post
I am pleased to see all these heads ups for Ultimate Guitar. I have used the UG website and tabs for many years with a computer, but their mobile version is very aggressive with pushing the app and when I checked it out quite some time ago on Google Play, there were many complaints about their excessive ads and requirement for premium membership. So I stuck with SmartChord and OpenSong that work quite well with importing songs from UG and other sites as well, though unfortunately not pdf files (I use Fakebook app for that). But I will revisit the UG app and hopefully it's less aggressive and more functional now.

Full disclosure: I sprung for the paid version of the app a couple of years ago. It is a little pricey but a one-time fee with no ads and no in-app purchases. It's been worth it for me.
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  #22  
Old 09-25-2018, 12:25 PM
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Methos1979 Methos1979 is offline
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Originally Posted by jafranks View Post
Full disclosure: I sprung for the paid version of the app a couple of years ago. It is a little pricey but a one-time fee with no ads and no in-app purchases. It's been worth it for me.
Same here. It's subscription based and it's $19.99 a year. Normally I would NEVER in a million years subscribe to any cell phone app but after a few days of using the trial version I GLADLY subscribed. I found it that useful. And hey, I'd been using their website for free for years so I figured it was worth it. The transcribe feature alone is worth it.

That has allowed me to play a whole bunch of songs that I previously could not due to not being able to capo up or down far enough to fit my wife's vocal range. And also in my more than a few cases it has allowed me to find much, MUCH easier chord progressions for some songs I had abandoned being able to play comfortably.

For instance, I cannot play songs that are primarily all bar chords because my hand cramps from not changing up enough. But with the transpose function I able to find open chord alternative progressions. Slick.
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  #23  
Old 09-25-2018, 12:42 PM
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Will ultimate Guitar let you change the size of the Font for iPads for Older eyes? I don't want to sing and play with reading glasses on.
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  #24  
Old 09-25-2018, 12:43 PM
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I've just recently taken the plunge to OnSong, but I'm Mac based. I had four binders, two for originals, two for covers, and it got to the point I was printing to paper every time I needed a set.

Most of my songs are on word. I moved them to dropbox, convert to text file, import them to OnSong, then convert to courrier font, realign the chords, then move on to the next. Sometimes things align, sometimes they don't.

Again, a feature for Mac only is OnSong Consol, enabling you to link your tablet with your computer for ease of editing. I'm taking my down time from carpal tunnel surgery to work on this huge task, but once done it will be a great asset.
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  #25  
Old 09-25-2018, 02:57 PM
jafranks jafranks is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Groberts View Post
Will ultimate Guitar let you change the size of the Font for iPads for Older eyes? I don't want to sing and play with reading glasses on.
On the Ipad you can "zoom" to increase the font. UG keeps the chords positioned over the proper syllables even when you pinch and zoom. On a laptop or desktop version, there is a "font" button which allows you to change font size.
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  #26  
Old 09-25-2018, 03:46 PM
Johnny K Johnny K is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jafranks View Post
Full disclosure: I sprung for the paid version of the app a couple of years ago. It is a little pricey but a one-time fee with no ads and no in-app purchases. It's been worth it for me.
Same here. Worth every penny.

I get more out of it than I do with TAC (sorry Tony, nothing personal) and I've paid for that too and dont use it.

I made a contribution myself a couple of months ago.

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...chords_2364779
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  #27  
Old 09-25-2018, 04:01 PM
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i agree with Mrjelly. i just use a 3 ring binder. except my book has no rhyme or reason. no order at all. i flip the page and go from the Band to sonny terry and brownie mcgee to beatles. makes no sense , just like me.
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  #28  
Old 09-25-2018, 04:40 PM
valleyguy valleyguy is offline
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Originally Posted by Songbook19 View Post
I've done something similar, akin to an electronic paper binder collection of sheet music, but assembled into an MS-Word document (I'm an old(er) fart and you stick with what you're familiar with). Nothing against the proliferation of guitar apps but I wanted a personal songbook that I could take with me on a laptop or tablet and access it without an internet connection. I also wanted something I could easily tinker with, tweaking the chords as I saw fit.

My songbook started out small but over the years has grown to 600+ songs. As it got bigger I added indexes and hyperlinks to make moving around easy.
And the format lets me easily parse down and create custom songbooks for each genre or a particular target audience or event if need be.

It's been suggested to me that others, especially older beginning guitarists looking for a ready-made songbook of classic songs, might find it useful since they could just delete any songs they don't want, keep the ones they do, and then call it their own.

Anyway, to that end I stuck it on a personal website if anyone wants to have a look or knows anyone that might be interested. The website is just a way to store it and make it available -- I'm not trying to sell anything to anyone.

A.T.

https://songbook19.my-free.website/
Thanks for sharing that extensive list of songs, impressive.
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  #29  
Old 09-25-2018, 04:47 PM
valleyguy valleyguy is offline
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For those using the Chrodpro file format (Onsong and Songbook users), there is a program called Songpress (free) that allows you to copyfrom the internet or a word processing program and paste to Songpress and it converts it to Chordpro format. It even shows the chord-in-brackets in one window and the chord-over-lyric display in another window.

Here's the link:

https://www.skeed.it/songpress

Makes live a lot easier.
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  #30  
Old 09-25-2018, 05:43 PM
shawnco999 shawnco999 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by valleyguy View Post
For those using the Chrodpro file format (Onsong and Songbook users), there is a program called Songpress (free) that allows you to copyfrom the internet or a word processing program and paste to Songpress and it converts it to Chordpro format. It even shows the chord-in-brackets in one window and the chord-over-lyric display in another window.

Here's the link:

https://www.skeed.it/songpress

Makes live a lot easier.

For those embarking on a new approach and facing a lot of work, chordpro format is the way to go. Once you have everything in this format - which is really a simple text file with brackets and chord labels where the chords go - you can then take your pick of which software to use (as noted above), while also being future compatible with future products that can utilize this simple format. (So you don’t have to do all that conversion work again.). Tools that support chordpro format allow you to change chords, change views (e.g., I can easily get all of American Pie on one page on my iPad Pro and my Windows PC), print in those viewable formats, use free software (as noted with song press above), link to music, etc., etc.
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