Guitar chord file format

The Guitar chord file format is a simple ASCII file format for transcribing songs with guitar chords and lyrics. Although this format is legible as it is, there are many popular programs for displaying, transposing and printing. .crd is the normal filename extension.

Format

Lyrics

Lyrics are any text that is not otherwise differentiated.

Capo 1 Standard D tuning

[Verse 1] (Em, C, G, D)
Em           C                       G  
What would I do without your smart mouth
            D                  Em
Drawing me in, and kicking me out
          C            G               D          Em
Got my head spinning, no kidding, I cant pin you down
             C                     G
Whats going on in that beautiful mind
               D             Em
Im on your magical mystery ride
        C              G                     D         Am
And Im so dizzy, dont know what hit me, but Ill be alright

[Bridge] (Am, Em, D)
Am              Em
My heads under water
    D             Am
But Im breathing fine
                Em             D
Youre crazy and Im out of my mind

[Chorus] (G, Em, Am, D)
       G
Cause all of me
       Em
Loves all of you
            Am
Love your curves and all your edges
           D
All your perfect imperfections
           G
Give your all to me
            Em
Ill give my all to you
         Am
Youre my end and my beginning
      D
Even when I lose Im winning
                  Em   C      G
Cause I give you all, all of me
                 Em   C      G    D
And you give me all, all of you, oh

[Verse] (Em, C, G, D)
Em              C                 G
How many times do I have to tell you
                  D                     Em
Even when youre crying you’re beautiful too
              C           G         D                  Em
The world is beating you down, Im around through every move
            C                G
Youre my downfall, youre my muse
             D                        Em
My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues
               C            G        D            Am
I cant stop singing, its ringing, in my head for you

[Bridge]

[Chorus]

[Bridge Change]
Am            Em
Cards on the table
       D             Am 
Were both showing hearts
Am          Em               D
Risking it all, though its hard

[Chorus]
                  Em   C      G
Cause I give you all, all of me
                 Em   C      G    D
And you give me all, all of you, oh

Chords

Chords are delimited by square brackets. If the chord name follows a known system it can be properly interpreted by a program. Non-standard names are allowed though.

Directives

Directives are delimited by curly braces. They are used to indicate meta data and to mark sections of a song.

Example

{title:Wonderful Time}
{subtitle:Words and Music (C) 2007 Adam Monsen}

[C]Every[G]body, [F]let's have a wonderful time
[C]Take it [G]slowly, [F]while you're feelin' fine
[C]One strange [E7]day shouldn't [F]take you by surprise
[C]But all right, [G]hey hey, [F]hey hey

{start_of_chorus}
[C]Ahhh [Am]ahhh [G]ahhh
[C]Ahhh [Am]ahhh [G]ahhh
{end_of_chorus}

[F]Wonderful [C]time