Quick Start
Get from a new Chordly account to your first finished chord sheet in a few minutes. Covers sign-up, the dashboard, and adding your first chord.
Go from a new account to your first finished chord sheet in a few minutes.
Step 1 — Create your account
Open the sign-up page:
Enter your email and a password, or sign in with Google.
Once signed in, you'll land on the dashboard — your song library.
Step 2 — The dashboard
Once you land on the dashboard, you only need to know two things to get started:
- New Song creates a song and opens the editor immediately
- Your songs and folders appear in the main area of the page
If you already have a ChordPro file, you can also use Import ChordPro from the sidebar instead of starting from scratch.
Step 3 — Create your first song
Click New Song at the top of the sidebar. The editor opens immediately with a blank song.
Click the song title at the top of the editor and rename it.
Type your lyrics into the editor. This is a full document editor — you can type, format, and arrange freely.
Your song saves automatically as you type. There is no Save button.
Step 4 — Add a chord
The chord palette sits below the toolbar at the top of the editor. Click Chords + to expand it. You'll see a scrollable row of chords, with your recently used chords first and a search field to find any chord quickly. Hover over a chord to see the fingering diagram.
If you prefer the keyboard, press Cmd+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux to open the Insert Chord modal at your current cursor position. Type the chord symbol and press Enter to insert it.
To add a chord to your song:
Click Chords + below the toolbar to open the palette.
Find the chord you want. Type in the search field to filter.
Drag the chord chip from the palette and drop it onto the word or syllable in your lyrics where the chord falls. It appears above the text immediately.
To move a chord, drag it to a new position. To delete one, place your cursor on it and press Backspace.
See Adding Chords for the full guide.
Step 5 — Format your song
The toolbar gives you full control over the document:
| Group | What it does |
|---|---|
| Undo / Redo | Step back and forward through your edits |
| Font & size | Font family and size (1–200px) |
| Text formatting | Bold, italic, underline, clear formatting |
| Color | Text color |
| Alignment | Left, center, right, justify |
| Spacing | Line, paragraph, letter, and word spacing |
| Chord palette | Add chords |
| Guitar tabs | Insert guitar tablature |
| Transpose | Shift the selected chords up or down by semitone, or the whole song if nothing is selected |
| Autoscroll | Scroll the page automatically at a set speed |
| Page breaks | Show or hide page breaks in the editor |
| Header | Show or hide the editor header |
Step 6 — Open Play Mode
Once you have a few lines and chords in place, click the Play Mode button in the editor header. It opens a clean reading view for rehearsal and performance.
From there you can see your song the way you'll actually use it: full-screen, easy to read, and ready for features like autoscroll, metronome, and transposing.
The editor header also includes a Download menu for PDF and ChordPro export when you need those file formats.
When you want to leave the editor, click the Chordly logo or open the More menu in the header and choose Dashboard.
What's next
- Making chord sheets — the full guide to adding and formatting chords
- Making guitar tabs — the tab staff
- Play Mode — autoscroll and metronome for performing
- ChordPro — importing, exporting, and how Chordly improves on the old workflow
- Collaboration — sharing songs and editing with others