Songbook Wizard - Documentation

The documentation is currently under development. Please check out the examples in the meantime to find out more details about the Songbook Wizard syntax. Large portions of this documentation have been kindly provided by Stephen Peringer. Thanks!

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 0 - Introduction

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 1 - An Example

Let's start by analyzing the song 1992 of the Britpop band Blur. This is an example of a complete songbook wizard sheet before it is turned into a PDF:

As we can see, a Songbook Wizard input file consists of three parts: header, chords, and lyrics. Only the lyrics part is required, the other two parts are optional. Each part will be described in detail in the sections 2-4 below.

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 2 - Header

This is the header section from the above example. The header section opens with <header> by itself, on its own line. The three variables are title, artist and subtitle. They must follow the <header> line. Each variable must appear on its own line. No matter what order the variables are entered, they will appear in the PDF file in the order, title, artist, subtitle. Any of the variables can be omitted. The header section can optionally be closed with </header> on its own line. Anything written after </header> will not be included in the final PDF.

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 3 - Chords

The chords section is where you give the wizard the data it needs to produce chord diagrams for your PDF. opens with <chords> on its own line, and closes with </chords>, also on its own line. The lines in between describe the chord shapes required in the song. There are up to four variables per line (that is, per chord), all separated by commas. The four variables are the chord name, base fret, notes, and barre position. This is how to write the variables in each line:

• chord name: This is the traditional name of the chord, like C, G#m, etc. use "b" for flat, "#" for sharp, and anything you want in superscript, in angle brackets, like A in the above example.
• base fret: If your chord contains any fretted notes above the 5th fret, put the number of the fret closest to the nut that is played in the chord. In the example, the G#m chord is played from the 4th fret, so there's a "4" in the base fret position, after the chord name.
• notes: The six characters in this section represent the six notes of the chord, starting with the low E string ("low" is in low note, not physically lower than the other strings), working up to the high e string. If a string is not played, put "x". If a string is played, but left open (not fretted), put "0" (zero). If the string is barred, put "b". In the example, the D chord is played only on the D, G, B and high e strings - in open position, 2nd, 3rd and 2nd frets respectively. The F chord above is barred on the low E, B and high e strings, and the A, D and G strings are fretted at 3rd, 3rd and 2nd respectively. NOTE: All the numbers in the notes variable are relative to the base fret number (i.e. 1=base fret). If you didn't set a base fret then the numbers are relative to the nut.
• barre position: If your chord includes barred notes ("b" in the notes variable), you must indicate where the barre is made in the barre position variable. In the example above, the F chord is barred at the 1st fret, as represented by the "1" at the end. The barre position is relative to the base fret. So, in the G#m example above, the barre is at the 4th fret, because "1" is the first fret relative to the base fret which is 4.

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 4 - Lyrics

The lyrics section is opened with <lyrics> on its own line. It must be closed with </lyrics> on its own line, or the PDF will not be produced. Sections like "Intro" and "Verse" are marked with a semicolon (:). These lines appear in the PDF as section titles in italics to the left of the indented lyrics. The chord names that you would like printed above the lyrics should be written in [square brackets]. The chord names in square brackets will appear immediately above whatever text follows them. All other text in the lyrics section will appear exactly as printed, including line breaks. NOTE: If you have chords with no lyrics, as in the Intro section in the example, an empty line will be inserted. This means you do not need to insert a line break before the next section to keep a consistent look.

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 5 - Formatting

There are currently two ways to control the look of the final PDF sheet:

• Beneath the wizard window you can choose between Helvetica (sans serif) font, and Times Roman (serif) font.
• Beneath the font box, you can choose your header formatting style.

In the default setting the title is printed on its own line in bold caps, then the artist and subtitle on the following line separated by a dash (-). If either the artist or subtitle are omitted, the dash will not appear in the final PDF. The header and chord diagrams are centred, like this:

The GW Acoustic Emulation setting the title and artist are printed on the first line, the title in bold, and the artist in italics. The subtitle is printed underneath. The header and chord diagrams are left justified, like this:

Songbook Wizard - Documentation - 6 - Final Remarks

• Currently, only normal characters from the US English keyboard will appear in the PDF. No non-English characters at all.
• The best way to figure it out is to enter some data, run the wizard and see what comes out. Have fun!