Lead Sheet Maker

Write a chord chart with bars, rhythm and slash chords, push a chord over the barline, add the tune on a staff when you want one, and print it or save it as PDF. No account, no sign-up: the sheet travels in the link.

Bars / row
Grid
Key
  • .Hold. The chord is still ringing and nobody strikes it.
  • %Strike the same chord again on this beat.
  • zRest. What was ringing stops here, and nothing is in force until the next chord.
  • N.C.The same silence with its name printed: no chord.
  • >CPush: lands on the last eighth of the bar and ties over the barline.
  • +COn the "and" of this beat. >C is the shorthand for +C on beat 4.
  • C^Accent: a heavier attack.
  • (C)Chord in force, no attack.
  • "As the bar before.
  • m:The tune over these bars, on the same token grid. A note lasts until the next one starts.
  • { }The route. {segno}, {coda}, {1.}, {2.}, {Fine}, or any words, printed at the bar it happens at.

An example, not your sheet: sixteen bars in two sections, with a chord pushed over the barline in bar 2, a slash bass in bar 6, a break in bar 14 and a first and second time at the repeat. The Melody switch adds the tune. Tap any chord to type over it, or clear the lot.

emusic.tools
KeyMeterTempo

Tune from E4 to E♭5

Verse
1
Nothing in the room but
2
the one chord ringing
3
4
over the bar-line
Row starting at bar 1
5
and the words sit under
6
where they land
7
not a syllable
8
early
Row starting at bar 5
Chorus
9
10
11
12
Row starting at bar 9
1.
2.
13
14
15
16
Row starting at bar 13

What a lead sheet is

One page a band can read: the chords, where the bars are, and what the rhythm does. Chord-and-lyric sites give you the names and leave out the rest, which is why two people reading the same page play it differently.

This one writes the parts they leave out. A slash chord keeps its bass note, a chord can land on the "and" of a beat, and a push sits an eighth before the barline and ties over it, so the page says what the band actually plays.

The way through the form goes on the page too, which is the other half a chord-and-lyric site cannot express: repeat barlines, first and second endings, a segno and a D.S. printed at the bar where the jump happens.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an account?
No. There's nothing to sign up for and nothing stored on our side. The sheet is written into the address bar, so the link is the copy you keep and the copy you send.
How do I write a pushed chord?
Select the chord and hit Push, or type a > in front of it in the text pane. The chord moves to the last eighth of the bar, a caret appears over the symbol, and a tie carries it across the barline.
Can I write the tune as well?
Yes. The Melody switch threads a staff between the chord symbols and the rhythm, over the same bars. Click the staff to place a note: it lasts until the next one starts, so there are no note values to pick. Select a note and the page offers four ways to play that bar's chord with that note on top, easiest first.
Where do the guitar shapes come from?
Shapes draws one diagram per chord of the sheet, once each, in the order they are first played, out of the same chord library the transposer reads. Up to ten ride at the head of the chart and print with it; past ten they take a page of their own rather than shrinking.
How do I get a PDF?
Print, then pick "Save as PDF" in the browser's print dialog. What prints is this page with everything but the sheet taken away, so there's no second layout to get wrong.