Song Lab is your integrated songwriting workspace. Build a chord progression, identify what key you're in, get scale and lick suggestions, write guitar tab with live notation, import and export MIDI, and save everything to your account.
Song Lab is organized into three zones that work together as you compose:
Chord Progression
Add chords, set style and tuning, play back the progression.
Key Analysis
Identifies matching keys, shows diatonic structure, suggests scales and lick approaches.
Tab Sheets
Grid-based tab entry with real-time notation, multi-sheet support, MIDI import/export.
A free account is required to save songs, save custom licks, and load saved progressions into Song Lab.
Tip: At least 3 chords are needed to unlock Key Analysis. The analysis gets more meaningful with 4–6 chords — add a passing chord and watch the key confidence scores shift.
The built-in metronome keeps time while you practice your tab or chord progression. It runs independently of audio playback, so you can use it alongside or without tab playback.
Tip: Use the Tap Tempo button (next to the BPM number input in the Chord Progression panel) to tap in the BPM of a song you're learning from, then start the metronome to practice along at that tempo.
Tip: If you see two keys tied with full matches, check the Key Detail View for both. The one whose diatonic chords include your most common chord is likely the tonal center.
Tip: Start with auto distribution to get a rough map, then click individual beats to pin chords exactly where they change in the song.
Section markers label structural parts of your song (Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Solo, Outro) and can optionally add repeat barlines in the notation.
Tip: Use section markers when you have multi-section songs with repeated parts (e.g. a chorus that repeats 3×). The repeat barlines tell performers exactly where to loop back.
The Scale Visualizer and Chord Visualizer both have a Use in Song Lab button that sends the current selection directly into Song Lab.
.mid or .midi file. MIDI files exported from Guitar Pro, GarageBand, Logic, Ableton, and other DAWs are all supported.Polyphonic tracks (chords) map each simultaneous note to its own string. Notes that fall outside the guitar range (too high or too low) are clamped to the nearest playable position.
.mid file is downloaded to your computer, named after your song..mid file into Guitar Pro, GarageBand, Logic, Ableton, or any DAW that supports MIDI.Tip: In Guitar Pro: File → Import → MIDI. Your tab will import as a guitar track with the correct note positions. You can then reassign the guitar sound, add RSE, and export to other formats.
You can paste guitar tab text directly from Ultimate Guitar, text files, or any ASCII tab source and convert it to Song Lab beats automatically.
e|---0---2-3-| B|---0---1-0-| G|---0---0-0-| D|---2---2-0-| A|---2---3-2-| E|---0---x-3-|
e|, B|, etc.).x) are ignored. Multi-digit fret numbers (10–24) are handled automatically.Tip: Copy the full tab block from Ultimate Guitar — headers and chord names outside the tab lines are automatically ignored.
Techniques like slides (/), hammer-ons (h), and pull-offs (p) are not yet parsed — only fret numbers land in the grid. You can add bend and vibrato annotations after import.
Download your tab sheet as a PNG image or PDF document for printing, sharing, or archiving.
Tip: For best results, name your song and set the key before exporting — these appear in the export header and make the document self-explanatory without the app open.
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