How to turn a photo or screenshot of a chord sheet into chords you can edit

1. Open Import

   Open GetChords and tap the Import card ("Audio or chords") on the home screen, or Import at the top of Songs. The Import sheet has two groups: Transcribe a recording and Chords you have.

2. Choose the picture

   Under Chords you have, Photos takes up to six screenshots or pictures from your photo library. Camera photographs a printed sheet with the document camera: it finds the page, straightens it and takes several pages in a row. On a Mac, Picture opens a file, and Scan with iPhone takes the photo with your iPhone's camera.

   

3. Let it read the page

   Reading the page shows while GetChords reads. Hold the page straight, with all of it in the light: a page it cannot read gives "GetChords could not read a chord sheet on this picture. Take it straight on, with the whole page in the light."

4. Check the lines it was unsure about

   Found a song says where the song came from, such as From a picture, Scanned or 3 pages. A box such as Check 2 lines against the page lists the lines GetChords read with doubt. Compare them with the page. Title and artist are filled from the largest lines above the song, and you can change both.

5. Add the song

   Tap Add song. The sheet opens with section names such as Verse and Chorus above their lines. A sheet without a recording scrolls when you tap the middle button at the bottom, at the speed under Scroll. Transpose, capo, chord diagrams, folders and export work as for any song, and so does a tap on a chord to change it.

6. Fix what it misread

   Tap a chord on the sheet to change it, or a word to correct it. The original page stays with the song: tap the song's title, and Song details shows it.

• Can I scan a printed chord sheet?

  Yes. Camera opens the document camera, which finds the page, straightens it and takes several pages in a row. On a Mac, Scan with iPhone uses your iPhone's camera.

• Can I import a screenshot of chords?

  Yes. Take the screenshot, then choose it under Photos. A screenshot of a chord page reads well, because its text is sharp.

• Does scanning work offline?

  Yes. Chord sheets are read on your iPhone, or on your iPad or Mac, as the Import sheet says: the text and the pictures never leave the device, so it works offline and needs no permission.

• Is this a sheet music scanner?

  No. GetChords reads chord names and lyrics, such as G, Em and D7 above the words. It does not read notes on a staff.

• Is the photo kept?

  Yes, on the device where you imported it. The song keeps its pages so you can compare the sheet with the page later. The pages are not copied to your other devices; the sheet is.

• How many pages can I import at once?

  Up to six pictures from Photos. The document camera takes several pages in a row.

• Does a photo import count as a song?

  It counts toward the 25 free songs, but not toward the 20 songs a day, which count recordings and audio files.

GetChords reads a chord sheet from a photo or a screenshot on your device, and keeps it with your other songs. It has no subscription and no account.

Coming to the App Store

• How to import chords from a website with Share or copy and pasteGuide
• How to open a ChordPro (.cho) file or a PDF chord sheetGuide
• How to transpose chords and find the right capo fretGuide
• Your chord sheets on iPhone, iPad and MacGuide

Written for GetChords 1.0. Button names are the ones the app shows.