etc :: dechord

There is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacings of the spheres. (Pythagoras)

Download: dechord.cpp (should compile on any platform).

I have a large collection of guitar music on my computer, with chords. Occasionally I want to print out just the lyrics, with the chords stripped out. Rather than keeping two copies of each song - one with chords and one just lyrics - I keep the copy with chords, and use this program to remove the chords when necessary. For example, dechord converts this:

       D                 Bm            D                  Bm
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
       D             Bm                     D                 Bm
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
       D               Bm         D                Bm
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
       D                Bm           A       Asus   A
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
                   A7                 D             A
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
                          A7                   D               A
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
     D              Bm           D                    Bm     
I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan
     D             Bm            A     A7       A
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

(which, incidentally, is the last verse of "Every Grain of Sand" by Bob Dylan), into this:

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

On the Mac, you can use this program by 1. storing a copy in /usr/local/bin, 2. copying the text you want to de-chord, 3. typing your keyboard shortcut to bring up a shell (you do have a shortcut for bringing up the terminal, right?), and 4. typing "pbpaste | dechord | pbcopy" to de-chord the contents of the clipboard. Better yet, program a Quicksilver trigger to run that shell command automatically. (pbpaste and pbcopy, in case you aren't familiar with them, are commands that output and input the clipboard contents).