Getting started with GoChords® is easy! Sign up for your account by
clicking here or the “Start Your Membership” button on the home page.
You'll be prompted to enter your e-mail address and to choose
a password for your GoChords account.
What are the system and browser requirements?
GoChords will work with most major web browsers for
Windows and Macintosh, including
Google Chrome,
Firefox, and
Safari.
Can I use Internet Explorer with GoChords?
After a couple of year of struggling to support Internet Explorer, we finally decided
it wasn’t worth the extra development time needed for testing and debugging for this one browser.
90% of the “bug” reports we get are from users who use IE, while we get very few from users
who use
Google Chrome or
Firefox or
Safari
(all of which are free downloads).
That being said, newer versions of IE may work okay, and you are certainly
welcome to try to use IE; for the best experience though,
we highly recommend using one of the browsers listed above.
How do I log in to GoChords?
To log in, enter your e-mail address and the password that you created when you registered.
If you would like to have GoChords remember your e-mail address,
select the checkbox labeled “Keep me logged in”. The next time you login
simply enter your password.
If you should forget your password, click the link labeled
“Forgot your password?”. This will take
you to a page where you will be asked to enter your e-mail address. An e-mail will be sent to
you containing your password.
What are song lists, and what can I do with them?
Once you have logged in, click on the “Songs" link in the top navbar to view and manage your list of
songs. From this page you can create, edit, share and delete and of your songs songs.
The Songs toolbar shows you several options:
My Songs — a list of all the songs
you’ve created in GoChords.
Songs By Genre — a list of all of your songs,
plus any songs that have been shared with you in groups you belong to;
this page shows you a tag cloud for filtering songs by specific genres.
Holiday Songs — a list of all the songs in
GoChords’ holiday songs list.
Public Domain — a list of all the songs in
GoChords’ public domain songs list.
My Songbooks — lets you create and view
any songbooks you’ve created. See the section “What are Songbooks?” below.
Create a New Song
To create a new song, click the “Create A New Song...” button.
You will then see the jump-start window, which will allow you to
copy-and-paste lyrics from some other source into your song.
You can also type as many verses of lyrics as you wish here.
Each line of the text you enter here will be separated into
a separate staff row on your song.
After your text has been entered, click the “Continue” button.
Note: you are not required to enter any lyrics here —
you can always add them later as you edit your song.
Edit An Existing Song
To edit one of your songs, simply click on the name of the song in your songlist.
Other Actions on the Side Menu
For each of your songs in your songlist, there is a “More” button
on the right that gives you access to some other actions when you click on it.
There are 3 different sharing methods — share on Facebook, share via
email, and share to one or more of your groups. See the section
below called “How can I share my songs” for more details on each
of these methods.
The 4th option on the side menu allows you to delete your song.
Use this option with caution, because once the song has been
deleted, there’s no way to undo it!
Can I share my songs on Facebook?
Yes, you can definitely share your songs on Facebook.
On the side menu in your songlist, there is an option for sharing to Facebook.
Also, when you’re viewing one of your songs, there is a “Sharing” droplist on
the toolbar that has an option for sharing on Facebook.
Once you select one of the Facebook sharing options above, you will be
presented with a standard Facebook sharing modal window.
Note: copying the URL for your song from the browser and trying to
share that on Facebook won’t work. We create a special sharing URL for
each song that is only available when using one of the two methods above.
This special URL allows you to share certain songs but not others, as you wish.
Be aware that the URL you share to Facebook lets your song be viewable
by anyone who visits it, even people outside of Facebook.
Can I share my songs via email?
Yes, sharing your songs via email is really easy.
You can share a song with up to 5 people at a time.
The recipients of the songs you share this way do not
need to be GoChords members in order to view the song you’ve shared.
To send a song via email, use either the side menu in your songlist, or
the “Sharing” menu on the song itself. You can enter as many as 5 email addresses,
plus you can add a custom note if you like. You can also choose to send
a copy of the email to the email address associated with your GoChords account.
Anyone who receives a share via email will be able to view that song
without logging in to GoChords.
What are songbooks, and how do I use them?
Think of songbooks like set lists for a band — a songbook is a collection of songs
you choose for any purpose. For example, you might create a songlist of songs you play
in a singalong with other musicians. Or maybe you’d create a songlist of several tunes
you practice every day. The possibilities are up to you.
Once you’ve created a songlist and added songs to it, when you click on a
song in the list, you’ll notice forward and backward arrows on the song that
will let you easily move from song-to-song, without having to go back to the
songlist page.
How do I join a group?
To join a group, click on the “Groups” link in the menu at the top of the page
and then select “All Groups” to see a list of all available groups.
Then click the “Join” button at the bottom of the group’s card.
The “Request to Join a Group” modal will now be displayed.
Click the “Send Request” button to send your message
to the group’s administrator.
When the group’s administrator accepts your request,
you will receive a notification in your Inbox on GoChords.
How do I create a group?
To create a new group, click on the “Groups” tab at the top of the page.
Then click the “Start A New Group!” button at the top of the page.
Enter a group name and description, then click the “Create Group” button.
You are now the administrator of this group. Other GoChords members can
request to join your new group. Requests to join your group will show
up in your inbox, where you can choose to accept the member or not.
How do I share my songs with others in my group?
You can also share your songs while looking at one of your group’s shared
songs list. There you will see a button like the one to the left. Click the button
and you will see a song selection modal as pictured on the right.
This modal shows you a list of all of your songs. You can select one or
more at a time to share with your group. You can also deselect any
songs you previously shared.
How do I copyright my original songs?
Be sure to copyright all your original music before you share it. Here is the
link to the copyright office. It is a great site with very easy instructions to
follow.
