How Do I “Mark-up” My Song?

How Do I “Mark-Up” My Music?

Marking Chords

The most common music “format” in use seems to be preformatted text with chords set off within square brackets, like this:

I want to go [G]back to my little grass shack
In Kealakekua, [A7]Hawaii
I want to [D7]be with all the kanes and wahines
That I used to [G]know... so long ago

{figure 1} Song mark-up merely requires surrounding chords with square brackets, [D7].

Anyone familiar with ChordPro should recognize this method of including chords “inline” with lyrics.

Highlight Song Structure

Want to demarcate the “refrain” or “chorus”, an intro, bridge or other song block? Easy!

Do this by placing two tags within the song, a {start_of_chorus} and matching {end_of_chorus}

{start_of_chorus}
{comment:Refrain}
[Fmaj7]Every time I [G]see you falling
I [Em]get down on my [F]knees and pray
I'm [F]waiting for that [G]final moment
You [Em]say the words that [F]I can't say
{end_of_chorus}

{comment:Verse 2}
[Fmaj7]I feel fine and [G]I feel good
I [Em]feel like I [F]never should
Whenever I get this way I just don't [G]know what to say
[Em]Why can't we be ourselves like we were [F]yesterday

[F]I'm not sure what [G]this could mean
I [Em]don't think you're [F]what you seem
I do admit to myself that if I [G]hurt someone else
[Em]Then I'd never see just what we're [F]meant to be
{comment:Refrain (Repeat Twice)}

{figure 2} Mark song blocks using a pair of start & end of chorus tags.

The shorthand equivalents are {soc} and {eoc}

Labels & Notes Within A Song: Comments

Now that you’ve marked the Chorus you’ll be needing to indicate when to jump to it. Or perhaps to repeat a line 4 times as the Outro. Use a comment.

Comments look like this: {comment: This is my comment} or the shorter {c:this is a comment, too}

{start_of_chorus}
{comment:Refrain}
[Fmaj7]Every time I [G]see you falling
I [Em]get down on my [F]knees and pray
I'm [F]waiting for that [G]final moment
You [Em]say the words that [F]I can't say
{end_of_chorus}

{comment:Verse 2}
[Fmaj7]I feel fine and [G]I feel good
I [Em]feel like I [F]never should
Whenever I get this way I just don't [G]know what to say
[Em]Why can't we be ourselves like we were [F]yesterday

[F]I'm not sure what [G]this could mean
I [Em]don't think you're [F]what you seem
I do admit to myself that if I [G]hurt someone else
[Em]Then I'd never see just what we're [F]meant to be
{comment:Refrain (Repeat Twice)}

{figure 3} Add “comments” within your music. When displayed Comments are displayed as stonger text..