ChordPro

ChordPro is a plain-text format for chord sheets. You type the lyrics as text, put chords in square brackets, add directives in curly braces, and then open that file in software that knows how to render it. It has been around for decades, and a lot of musicians still have folders full of .cho, .pro, and .chordpro files.

That format is still useful. The friction comes from the workflow around it. You are not editing a live page. You are editing text instructions, then using another tool to turn them into a finished chart. Chordly works with ChordPro, but it is built around a different editing model: a live document where you place chords visually and see the result immediately.

What ChordPro actually is

ChordPro started in the early 1990s as a simple way to store chord sheets in a text file. The idea is straightforward:

• lyrics stay as plain text
• chords are inserted in square brackets right before the syllable they belong to
• directives in curly braces describe song metadata or structure
• another program reads that file and renders a formatted chart

Here is a simple example:

{title: Swing Low Sweet Chariot}
{artist: Traditional}

{start_of_chorus}
Swing [D]low, sweet [G]chari[D]ot
Comin' for to carry me [A7]home
{end_of_chorus}

That file is readable if you already know the format, but it is not the finished page. It is a text representation of the song. A ChordPro app, desktop program, mobile app, or command-line renderer then decides how to display the title, where to place the chords, how to style the chorus, and what to do with the rest of the directives.

That distinction matters. ChordPro is a format, not an editor.

Why musicians still use it

ChordPro stuck around for good reasons.

• It is plain text, so files are easy to save, sync, and version.
• It has been around for decades, so many apps and song libraries already support it.
• It is easy to email, archive, and keep around long term.
• It gives power users a compact way to express song structure in a text file.

If your band has a folder full of .cho, .pro, or .chordpro files, that is completely normal. ChordPro is still one of the main formats musicians run into when sharing chord sheets.

Where the ChordPro workflow falls short

The issue is not the format itself. The issue is that many tools still make you build the song through the format.

In a typical ChordPro workflow, you:

1. type your lyrics into a text file
2. insert bracketed chords where they belong
3. add directives for things like title, artist, verse, chorus, or tab sections
4. render the file somewhere else to see what it actually looks like
5. go back and edit the text again when spacing, structure, or formatting feels off

That works, but it is indirect. You are editing instructions instead of editing the page. You do not drag a chord onto a syllable. You place [G] in the right spot and trust the renderer. You do not just format the line the way you want. You depend on the renderer to interpret your directives the way you expect.

That is where Chordly differs. It keeps compatibility with the format, but it does not make you author the song through the format.

What Chordly does differently

Chordly keeps compatibility with ChordPro, but changes the editing model completely.

Instead of writing bracketed syntax, you work in a live document:

• type your lyrics directly into the page
• drag chords from the chord palette onto the exact character where they belong
• move chords visually instead of rewriting text syntax
• format lyrics, chords, spacing, fonts, and colors in the same editor
• see the final result as you work

Chordly removes the render step from the act of writing. You are not authoring a text representation and hoping it turns into the chart you wanted. You are editing the chart itself.

This is especially useful when you want something more polished than a basic monospace chord sheet. ChordPro is good at expressing chord placement and song structure in text. Chordly is better when you care about the actual finished page and want control over how it looks without giving up speed.

How ChordPro fits into Chordly

In Chordly today, ChordPro is mainly relevant in two places:

• when you bring an existing ChordPro-style file into Chordly
• when you export a Chordly song into a ChordPro-style text file

Those workflows are useful, but they are not the same thing as editing raw ChordPro inside the app. Chordly takes your ChordPro file and converts it into Chordly's own format, letting you format it exactly how you want, much faster.

Where to start

If you are here because you want to understand the format itself, start with these:

• ChordPro Syntax for bracketed chords, lyric lines, comments, and basic file structure
• ChordPro Directives for titles, artist info, verse and chorus sections, tab environments, and other common directives

If you are here because you want to use ChordPro with Chordly, go here:

• Importing ChordPro Files
• Exporting to ChordPro

If you are new to Chordly and mostly care about making chord sheets faster, these pages will be more useful than learning how ChordPro works first:

• Getting Started
• Making Chord Sheets
• Editor

A practical example

Here is the kind of ChordPro file many musicians have sitting in an old folder somewhere:

{title: Take Me Home, Country Roads}
{artist: John Denver}
{key: A}
{capo: 2}

{start_of_verse}
Almost [A]heaven, West [F#m]Virginia
Blue Ridge [E]Mountains, Shenan[A]doah River
{end_of_verse}

{comment: Chorus}
[D]Country roads, take me [A]home
To the [E]place I be[A]long

There is nothing wrong with that file. It is compact, portable, and understandable if you know the format. But if you want to adjust spacing, change fonts, fine-tune layout, mix in tabs, or just place chords visually while you write, Chordly is the better tool.

That is the relationship between ChordPro and Chordly. ChordPro is still useful as a format. Chordly is the place where the song is easier to build, format, and refine.