Chord Programmer

Live Jam Chords: Guide

Live Jam Chords is a shared chord chart for bands and improvisers. Everyone joins the same online room, sees the same changes, and can see which line of the chart another player is on.

Open Live Jam Chords ↗ All SynthCraft tools

1. Quick start

One person creates the roomType your name, a room name and a password, then press Create Room.
Everyone else joinsShare the room name and password with your band (not in a public place). Each player types their own name and the same room name and password, then presses Join Room.
Edit the chartSwitch MODE to Edit Songs and tap a measure. Pick the chord letter and type, and divide the measure if it holds more than one chord. Changes appear for everyone straight away.
PlaySwitch MODE back to Performance and tap the row you are playing. Others see it glow in your colour.

An internet connection is needed, because the room is shared online. It works on computers, tablets and phones.

2. Creating and joining a room

The start screen asks for three things.

Field	What to enter
Your Name	How the others see you, for example “Guitar 1”. Up to 20 characters.
Room Name	Any name your band agrees on.
Room Password	Anyone who knows the room name and the password can join.

Create Room makes a new room. If the name is already taken, you are told to join it instead. A new room starts with one song, “Song 1”, with four empty rows to fill in.
Join Room enters a room that already exists. A wrong password shows a “Wrong Password” message.
All three fields are required. No account or sign-up is needed.

3. The room screen

Area	What it does
Room name and Leave	The room you are in, your name in your colour, and the Leave button.
MODE	Switches between Performance and Edit Songs.
FOLLOWING	Pick another musician to follow, or leave it on “No One (Free Look)”.
SONG and +	Choose a song, or press + to add a new one.
ROWS	Performance mode only. One row highlights a single row; Multi-row lets you highlight two or more rows (see section 4).
Add Row	Appears in Edit mode only.
Chord chart	A grid of 4 measures across and 4 rows down. On a phone the grid is sized to fit the screen. If the song has more rows, a few pixels of the next row show at the bottom, so you know to scroll down.
Musicians	A coloured tag for everyone currently in the room.

A chat box sits at the bottom of the screen. Type a message and press Enter or Send; everyone in the room sees it, and the last 100 messages are shown.

4. Performance and Edit modes

The MODE menu keeps playing and editing apart, so nobody changes a chord by accident during a song. Each person chooses their own mode.

Mode	What you can do
Performance	Tap a row to mark it as the one you are on. It glows in your colour for everyone. Chords are locked, so nothing can be changed by mistake. This is the default.
Edit Songs	Change chords, divide measures, add rows and delete rows. Tapping a row does not highlight it in this mode.

Parts longer than 4 bars: switch ROWS to Multi-row and tap two or more rows. Each highlighted row gets a number (1, 2, ...) so players know to play the top row first and then the next one. Tap a highlighted row again to remove it, or switch back to One row. A room set up before this feature may only allow one highlighted row.

A conductor can simply be whoever is leading: they tap each row as the band reaches it, and everyone else follows (see Following a musician).

5. Editing chords and rows

Each row is 4 measures. In Edit Songs mode, tap a measure and a panel opens from the bottom with everything for that measure:

Chord letter: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, or a dash to leave the measure empty.
Chord type: maj, min, 7, m7, maj7, dim, aug, sus4, sus2, 6, 9, m7b5, add9. The type is shown under the letter in the measure.
Chord changes inside this measure: for a measure that changes chord, tap > beat 2, >> beat 3 or >>> beat 4 to start a new chord on that beat (you can use one, two or all three). Each chord has its own letter and type: pick it by its beat at the top of the panel. Tap a mark again to remove it, or tap Whole to join the measure back into one chord.

Every tap is saved for the whole room at once. Press Done (or Esc) to close the panel.

Control	What it does
Add Row	Adds a new empty row of 4 measures at the end of the song.
Import / Export (Files on a phone)	Saves songs as a text, CSV or Excel file, or loads songs from one (see section 6).
Bin button on a row	Deletes that row after you confirm. It is removed for everyone.

Edits are shared live, so if two people change the same chord, the last change wins. Agree who edits before a rehearsal.

6. Songs

A room can hold many songs. Use the SONG menu to choose which chart you are looking at. Choosing a song changes only your own screen.

Press + to add a song. You are asked for a title, and the new song starts with four empty rows for you to fill in. New songs are shared with everyone in the room.

Import and export (files)

Press Import / Export (Files on a phone) to save songs as a file or load songs from one. The easiest way to start: export a song, change it in Excel or Notepad, and import it back. Importing needs Edit mode, because it changes the songs for everyone in the room.

Export: choose this song or all songs, a file type (Excel, CSV or text) and a layout.
Import: choose a file or paste chords, check the preview, then pick whether it becomes a new song or replaces the song you are looking at.
Layouts: one cell per measure (a chord change inside a measure is written with >, >> or >>>, one > for every beat that has passed, for example GMaj>Gmin>>G7>>>G9) or four cells per measure (one cell for each beat, a chord goes in the beat where it starts).
The readme: press How the files work in the Import / Export window for a short guide and example files you can download.

7. Following a musician

Open the FOLLOWING menu and choose “Follow” and a player’s name. Whenever that player highlights a row, your chart scrolls to bring that row to the top of the grid. Set it back to “No One (Free Look)” to scroll on your own again.

You cannot follow yourself, and only players currently in the room are listed.
Following works when you are looking at the same song as the person you follow. It does not switch songs for you, so choose the same song first.

8. Leaving a room

Press Leave and the page reloads at the start screen. Your name disappears from the Musicians list, and your highlight is removed. If you close the tab or lose your connection, this happens automatically. The room and its songs stay, so you can come back with the same room name and password.

9. Privacy

Room data is stored online. Your room name, songs, chords, player names and highlights are kept on an online service so that everyone can see them. Do not put anything secret or personal in a room, in a song title or in your name.

The password is turned into a code in your browser before it is sent, and it is used to check who may enter a room. Even so, treat a room as shared with everyone who knows its name and password, and choose a password you do not use anywhere else.

Players are signed in anonymously. You do not need an account.

10. Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
“Please fill all fields.”	Enter your name, a room name and a password before pressing Create or Join.
“Room exists. Join it instead.”	Someone already made that room. Press Join Room, or pick a different name.
“Wrong Password.”	Check the spelling and capital letters of the password and room name, and ask whoever created the room.
I get “Room not found” when I join	Joining a room that does not exist shows “Room not found”. A room has to be made with Create Room first, so ask someone to create it, then join again.
I cannot edit a chord	Chords are locked in Performance mode. Switch MODE to Edit Songs.
I do not see the others	Check that everyone typed the room name exactly the same, and that you are all online.
The chart does not move when I follow someone	Make sure you and that player are on the same song and that they have clicked a row in Performance mode.
Nothing loads	Check your internet connection and reload the page.