Guide
What you can do on Bluegrass Book, and how. Almost all of it works without an account. If you'd rather be shown than read, take the tour: it walks you over the real buttons in about two minutes.
Find a song
Type into the search box: a title, an artist, or a line of the words you remember. Every word you type has to match, so add a word to narrow it down. Tabs and fiddle tunes are in the same search.
To search one thing only, start with a word and a colon:
artist:hank williams | who recorded or wrote it |
title:blue moon | the title only |
lyrics:lonesome highway | the words only |
writer:bill monroe | who wrote it |
prog:I-IV-V | songs with that chord progression, in Nashville numbers |
chord:VII | songs that use that chord (several: chord:VII,II) |
tag:Gospel | songs with that tag; -tag:Instrumental leaves them out |
tag:banjo | songs with a banjo tab (also mandolin, guitar, fiddle, dobro) |
You don't have to remember any of that. The Tags, Chords… and Instrument buttons under the box, and the chips such as Gospel and Waltzes, write it into the box for you. The ? button lists every option.
The songbook and the Dungeon
Search covers the songbook: the bluegrass, old-time and gospel songs people play at jams. Behind it is the Bluegrass Dungeon, more than 16,000 songs that didn't make the book. Tick Include the dungeon to search them too; the choice is remembered on your device. A song from there carries a Dungeon badge.
Other ways in: the collections on the home page (Bluegrass Standards, Gospel, Fiddle Tunes and more), every song A to Z, and the Chord Explorer, where you build a progression and hear it played.
Can't find it? The no-results page has Request this song, which puts it on the list of songs we're looking for. No account needed.
Play from it
A song page shows the words with the chords over them. The bar at the bottom holds everything about how it looks.
- Change the key. Tap Key. Step it up or down, or tap the key you want; the original key is marked. Every chord moves.
- Nashville numbers. In the same Key sheet, turn on Nashville numbers to read 1 4 5 instead of A D E.
- Bigger or smaller. Aa − + changes the text size.
- Chord chart. Switch Lyrics | Chart to see the song as bars of chords instead of words.
- Display. Two columns on a wide screen, section labels, a compact layout, chords on every verse or only the first time a pattern comes round (or none), and Auto-hide controls, which tucks the bars away while you scroll.
- Other versions. When a song has more than one version or a tab, View lists them.
Tap the Written by line for the song's details: who wrote it, who recorded it, its tags and where it came from. Under the title, Practice links to a YouTube search, and to Strum Machine in your key when the song is there.
The ⋯ menu has Print (always on a white page) and Export, which copies the song or downloads it as text or ChordPro. To share a song, share its address: every song has its own, like bluegrassbook.com/songs/old-home-place/.
Lists and set lists
On a song, open ⋯ and choose Save to list…. Tick Favorites or one of your lists, or make a new one right there. The + on a search result does the same.
- Reorder by dragging a song by its ⋮⋮ handle.
- Notes per song: the key you play it in, a tempo, and anything you want to remember ("banjo kicks it off"). A song opened from the list opens in that key.
- Play through it. Open the first song: the bottom bar shows ‹ 1 of 9 ›, and the arrow keys step to the next song.
- Take it with you. Print the whole list, or download it as text, ChordPro or a zip with one file per song.
- Change several at once. Select songs to copy, move or remove them together. Ctrl-Z (⌘Z on a Mac) undoes.
Without an account your lists live on this device only. Signed in, they follow you to every device, and you can share one: anyone with the link can view it and copy it, and you can invite someone to edit it with you. On someone else's list you can Follow it or Copy to My Lists.
Tabs
Play a tab
Tabs play out loud. Press ▶; slow it down with the tempo −. Click a beat to start from there, or drag across a few measures to loop just that phrase.
Display has the practice tools: loop, a metronome, a count-in, a two feel, and Play in, which plays it in another key as if you'd put on a capo (the frets on the page don't move). A tab with several instruments has a mixer, and each track can be soloed. A song with more than one tab lists them all under View.
Fix a tab, or write your own
Press Edit on a tab to change notes or write a break of your own. Your work is saved as a draft as you go, on this device; find it again under ⋯ ▸ My tabs.
Open your own TablEdit files
Drag a .tef file onto any page and it opens in the
tab editor, right in your browser. On a phone, open
⋯ ▸ Tab editor and tap Open a tab file….
When you're done, File ▸ Save as… saves it back as
.tef, as a Bluegrass Book tab (.otf.json), or as plain-text tab.
No account, and nothing uploaded unless you choose to add your tab to the book. Some TablEdit details don't come across; when you open a file, the editor tells you what wasn't kept. You can also start a tab from scratch in the tab editor.
Add or fix a song
Add a song
Add Song ▸ Lyrics & Chords opens the editor.
- Lyrics: type the words, or paste a chord sheet from anywhere and it's converted for you.
- Sections: select some lines, then tap Verse, Chorus or Bridge.
- Chords: switch to Chords, tap a syllable, then tap a chord.
- ChordPro: if you know the ChordPro format, edit the source directly.
Give it a title and press Submit to Songbook. Songs go live as soon as you submit them. If the song is already in the book, you're asked whether to add your chords to it or keep yours as your own version.
Fix a song
Press Edit on the song page. Unless the chart is yours, your edit is saved as your arrangement: it shows up among the song's versions, and the original stays as it is. The button tells you which will happen before you press it.
Add a tab to a song
Add Song ▸ Tablature asks which song and which instrument, then opens the tab editor. A song page also has + Add a tab at the foot. When it's ready, press Submit tab; it's live on the song straight away.
Submitting needs an account, because your name is the credit. You can write the whole thing first: the editor asks you to sign in only at Submit, and your work is kept while you do. Signed in, My Submissions lists what you've added. The ⋯ ▸ High Scores page thanks the people who add the most.
On your phone, and offline
The whole site works on a phone. You can also install it as an app, with its own icon and no browser bars: on Android and in Chrome, use ⋯ ▸ Install app when it appears; on an iPhone, open the site in Safari and choose Share ▸ Add to Home Screen.
Offline: after your first visit, the songs you've already opened are there without a connection, and so are the tab editor and My tabs. Songs you've never opened need a connection the first time. Lists you keep on the device work offline; signing in, syncing and submitting wait until you're back online.
What needs an account
No account needed: searching, reading, changing the key, printing and exporting, playing tabs, Favorites and lists on this device, the tab editor and saving your own files, requesting a song, and sending feedback.
Sign in to: add or fix songs and tabs, keep your lists on every device, share a list or follow someone's, and vote for the versions and tags you like.
Your account has a public name, the one High Scores shows. You start with a bluegrass name and can choose your own after you sign in.
Sign in with Google, or with an email and password, from Sign in at the top of the page or in the ⋯ menu on a song.
Get help, report a problem
- Something wrong with a song (a wrong chord, a lyric, a missing verse): on the song, ⋯ ▸ Report a problem.
- A bug, an idea, anything else: ⋯ ▸ Send Feedback, or the 🐛 at the top of the page.
- Rights holders: every song's ⋯ ▸ Report a problem has Copyright concern, which writes the email for you, or write to hello@bluegrassbook.com.
None of these need an account.