Chord Notepad0.5.1

Write chords and lyrics in Chord Notepad’s plain-text editor, then click an individual chord or play the entire song to hear it. Songs use chord lines followed by lyric lines; the editor recognizes lines containing only chords, highlights their symbols, and leaves other lines as text. It understands American notation such as C, Am, Bb7, Cmaj7, and C/G, European forms including Do, Rem, Fa#, and Sol7, Roman numerals relative to the key, and beat lengths such as C*2 or Am*4.5.

ChordPro-style directives set the tempo, time signature, and key, while also labeling and repeating sections with commands such as {bpm: 120}, {time: 3/4}, {key: G}, {label: chorus}, and {loop: chorus 2}. Playback uses FluidSynth with the GeneralUser GS soundfont, providing General MIDI’s 128 instruments, a speed multiplier, and a metronome. Piano voicing selects chord notes that minimize movement from the preceding chord.

Guitar voicing fits fingerings within a four-fret span and supports standard, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, and ukulele tunings. Ensemble voicing covers SATB, TTBB, and SSA choir arrangements plus string quartet parts. A panel beneath the editor follows playback and displays voiced chords as a piano roll, staff, chord diagrams, or tablature.

Songwriters, singers, instrumentalists, and music students can use it to study, rehearse, or arrange chord sheets. Its tools transpose songs, suggest a capo, convert American and European notation, identify chords from selected notes, and export MIDI files. Version 0.5.1 is published by Tiberiu Alexandru Chibici for Linux on x86_64 (amd64), requires snapd, and is open-source.