Share with a friend
Send a link and your friend can add the song to their own Uku, or use “Send as a text chord chart”, which any app can read; pasted into Uku’s “Paste a chord chart”, it imports too.
My Songs
Uku has no built-in pop songs: the chart you already have is the one you most want to practise. Copy a chord chart from the web, a PDF or your notes and paste it into Uku. It splits the chart into bars, you fine-tune it, and Uku runs it for you as you play.
Select the chord chart on a web page, in a PDF or in your notes, and copy it.
Open My Songs in Uku. If you just copied text, a card at the top offers it: tap “Paste” to go straight to the paste page. You can also tap “Add” → “Paste a chord chart”, then “Paste”.
Check what Uku found, and tap “Make it a song”. Then fine-tune it and try it out.
Uku reads all three ways of writing the same song. Paste whichever one your chart looks like.
The most common look. A chord above a word starts there. Use a chart set in a fixed-width font so the spaces stay lined up.
Jingle Bells C C Jingle bells, jingle bells, F C Jingle all the way F C Oh what fun it is to ride C G7 C in a one-horse open sleigh
Put the chord in [ ] right before the word where it changes. This is the ChordPro style, which many chart sites can export.
Jingle Bells [C]Jingle bells, [C]jingle bells, [F]Jingle all the [C]way [F]Oh what fun it is to [C]ride [C]in a one-horse [G7]open [C]sleigh
Each | marks off one bar, with one chord per bar. Put the words on the next line and they are shared evenly over the bars.
Jingle Bells | C | C | Jingle bells, jingle bells, | F | C | Jingle all the way | F | C | Oh what fun it is to ride | C | G7 | C | in a one-horse open sleigh
Title
If the first line is plain words and chords only come after it, it becomes the title.
Section names
Write Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge or Outro on a line of its own, and the lines after it belong to that section.
Meter
Write 3/4 or 4/4 on a line of its own and the lines after it use that meter. A chart may change meter midway; each line keeps its own.
Strumming
A line such as “Strum: D D U U D U” or “Strumming: D-DU-UDU” is read as the strumming pattern, and you can still change it after pasting.
Tempo
Write “BPM 100” or “Tempo: 100” and Uku sets that as the tempo of the song.
Notes
Lines such as capo, key, author and web address go into the song’s notes and do not become bars.
Tab
Tab is skipped. A riff in the chart becomes a “note bar” with no chord and no strumming.
Start with a letter from A to G, add # or b if needed (♯ and ♭ work too), then the kind of chord. Case matters: M is major, m is minor.
| Chord | You can write it as |
|---|---|
| Major C | C, CM, Cmaj |
| Minor Am | Am, Amin, Ami, A- |
| Dominant 7th G7 | G7, Gdom7 |
| Major 7th Cmaj7 | Cmaj7, CM7, C△, CΔ7 |
| Minor 7th Am7 | Am7, Amin7, A-7 |
| Suspended Csus4, Csus2 | Csus4, Csus, Csus2 |
| Sixth and added 9th C6, Cadd9 | C6, Cmaj6, Cadd9, Cadd2 |
| Diminished, augmented Cdim, Caug | Cdim, Co, C°, Caug, C+ |
| Half-diminished Bm7b5 | Bm7b5, Bm7♭5, Bø |
| Ninths and more | C9, Cmaj9, Am9, G7sus4, C6/9 |
After you paste and before you tap “Make it a song”, “What Uku found” lists every line and bar. Where Uku made a decision for you, it says so underneath.
Words that do not line up
When the chords are not placed over the words, the words are shared evenly over the bars. For exact placement, line the chords up over the words or use the [C] style.
Chords written with “or”
Something like “C or Am” takes the first one.
Optional chords in brackets
Something like “(F)” is left out.
Several chords in one bar
Something like “| C G |” keeps only the first. One chord per bar.
Chords Uku does not have
They are replaced by the closest one, and the preview lists which.
Riffs and tab
A riff is kept as a note bar; tab is skipped.
A change of meter
Each line keeps its own meter, and the preview lists the ones used.
Strumming found
The preview shows the strumming Uku read, and you can adjust it in the editor.
If the preview is empty, Uku says “No chords found”. Check that you pasted a chord chart, with chords written like C, Am7 or F#m.
After “Make it a song” the editor opens: one cell is one bar, with the chord above and the words below. Every change is saved automatically.
Change a chord
Tap a bar and pick a chord below it; if it is not there, tap “More…” to choose from all of them.
Change the words
Tap a bar and type in “Words for this bar”.
Add or remove bars
Tap a bar, then “Add a bar after” or “Delete bar”. A line holds up to 12 bars; for more, use “Add a line”.
Label a section
The “+ Section” at the top left of each line lets you pick Intro, Verse, Pre-chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Interlude, Outro.
Meter of a line
The “…” at the right of a line → “Meter of this line” lets you pick 3/4 or 4/4. The same menu can also duplicate, move up, move down or delete the line.
Strumming
Tap “Strumming” to pick a common pattern or type your own: D = down, U = up, X = muted, - = rest. You can also tap the cells to switch them, and preview the rhythm.
Tempo
Use the + and − beside BPM, or tap “Tap the tempo”: play the original song and tap along with the beat at least 3 times, and Uku works out the tempo.
Find an easier key
Tap “Find an easier key” and Uku lists the keys with the fewest barre chords. Transposing changes only the chords; the words and the rhythm stay.
Note bar
Tap a bar, then “Note”, to turn it into a title such as riff or intro. A note bar shows no chord and is not strummed.
Try playing
Tap “Try playing” and the chart scrolls by itself at your tempo: the left hand sees when to change chords, the right hand sees how to strum.
Send a link and your friend can add the song to their own Uku, or use “Send as a text chord chart”, which any app can read; pasted into Uku’s “Paste a chord chart”, it imports too.