Reference
Import reference
When you paste or import a song, GigCharts reads {property} directives and ChordPro-style section markers. Here's the full list — which are standard ChordPro, which are GigCharts extras, and what actually shows on the chart.
On this page
You don't need any of these to get started — paste plain chords-over-lyrics and it just works. But if your source already carries metadata or section markers, GigCharts reads them. Ready to try? Open the app and paste a song. (For what each of these renders as on the page, see the element reference. For the rest of the ChordPro standard — including what's not supported — see ChordPro in GigCharts.)
Song properties
Put these on their own line anywhere in a pasted song — usually at the top. Keys are case-insensitive; several accept aliases (the ChordPro spelling and a short form).
Standard ChordPro
| Property | Example | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
title also: t | {title: Hotel California} | Title |
artist | {artist: Eagles} | Artist |
subtitle also: st | {subtitle: Live at the Forum} | Subtitle |
music also: composer | {music: Don Felder} | Music / composer |
lyrics also: lyricist | {lyrics: Don Henley} | Lyrics / lyricist |
arranger | {arranger: Bea Balog} | Arranger |
album | {album: Hotel California} | Album |
year | {year: 1977} | Year |
copyright | {copyright: © 1977} | Copyright |
key also: originalkey | {key: Am} | Original key |
capo | {capo: 2} | Capo fret |
tempo also: bpm | {tempo: 120} | Tempo (BPM) |
time also: timesig | {time: 4/4} | Time signature |
duration | {duration: 3:45} | Duration |
transpose | {transpose: 2} | Transpose (semitones) |
GigCharts extras
Recognized too, but not part of the ChordPro standard.
| Property | Example | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
style also: bb | {style: Cha Cha} | Beat / style |
genre | {genre: Pop} | Genre |
instrument also: target-instrument | {instrument: ukulele} | Target instrument |
version also: v | {version: 01} | Version |
video | {video: https://…} | Video link |
track | {track: 7} | Track number |
key_actual also: actual_key | {key_actual: C} | Actual (sounding) key |
Section markers
ChordPro-style section blocks become section spines, and comment directives become cue chips. Wrap the lines of a section between a start and end marker.
| Marker | Example | What it does |
|---|---|---|
{start_of_chorus} … {end_of_chorus} | {soc: Chorus} … {eoc} | A chorus section (optional label) |
{start_of_verse} … {end_of_verse} | {sov} … {eov} | A verse section |
{start_of_bridge} … {end_of_bridge} | {sob} … {eob} | A bridge section |
{start_of_part: Label} … {end_of_part} | {start_of_part: Intro} … | A labeled part section |
{chorus} | {chorus} | Chorus recall — “play the chorus again” |
{comment: text} / {c: text} | {c: watch the key change} | A cue chip carrying that note |
{comment_italic}/{ci}, {comment_box}/{cb}, {highlight} | {cb: SOLO} | Comment variants — imported as plain cue text |
{comment} / {c} (empty) | {c} | A blank line — a stanza separator |
Bracket headers
Popular chord and tab sites don't use ChordPro. They mark structure with a bare bracketed
header on its own line — [Intro], [Verse 1],
[Pre-Chorus], [Outro Solo] — and GigCharts reads those too, so a
copied page arrives with its sections already in place. No end marker is needed: a header runs
until the next one.
A bracketed line is only treated as a header if its contents are not a chord.
A line reading [Am] stays what it is — an inline chord — and only real labels
become sections.
The same pass clears the boilerplate those pages come wrapped in, so you can paste the whole thing and start editing:
| Line | Example | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| [Label] | [Verse 1] | A section spine labeled with whatever is inside the brackets, verbatim. The section runs until the next bracket header, or the end of the song. |
| Capo N | Capo 2 | Sets the capo fret, the same as {capo: 2}. Capo: 3 works too. A directive wins: an explicit {capo} anywhere in the paste is not overwritten. |
| Credit line | Tabbed by: A. Reader | Dropped. Also Transcribed by:, Submitted by:, Tabber:, Arranged by:, Chords by:, Tab by: — the colon is required, so a lyric that opens with one of those words is safe. |
| Rule line | -------- | Dropped. Three or more of -, *, = or _ on a line of their own. |
| Tab legend | | h Hammer-on | Dropped. A leading pipe, a one-to-three-character symbol, a gap, then a word. Tab staves start with a note letter (e|, B|), so they are untouched. |
One more fallback, for a paste with no directives at all: if the first content line looks like
Artist – Title (short, and not a chord line), it is lifted into those two fields
instead of being printed.
Bracket headers are the house convention on sites such as Ultimate Guitar. Ultimate Guitar is a trademark of its respective owner; GigCharts is not affiliated with or endorsed by them, and reads the notation only because so many charts are written in it.
Recognized vs shown
Being recognized isn't the same as being shown. A few directives are read on import but not (yet) drawn on the chart:
- Comment styling (
{comment_italic},{comment_box},{highlight}) collapses to a plain cue. {start_of_tab}/{start_of_grid}blocks and layout directives ({new_page},{column_break},{new_song}) are swallowed on import but not rendered.- Some metadata (arranger, copyright, year, album, track, duration) is read into the song and kept, but isn't printed until you add it to the title or subtitle template.
The full directive-by-directive breakdown — recognized, partially handled, ignored — is on ChordPro in GigCharts.