Click ⚔ Forge New Song to start a new song. It will appear in the left sidebar and open in the editor automatically.

Each song has fields for title, artist/band name, genre, key, tempo/feel, and capo. None of these are required — fill in whatever is useful to you.

Click + New Folder to create a folder. You can use these however you like — for example: Drafts, In Progress, Finished, Album 1, etc.

To move a song into a folder, hover over the song in the sidebar and click the ⇄ arrow icon that appears. Or use the folder dropdown menu at the top of the song editor.

Songs that aren't in any folder appear in the Unfiled section at the bottom of the sidebar. If you delete a folder, the songs inside it don't get deleted — they just move to Unfiled.

Inside any song, each section (Verse, Chorus, etc.) has a ☐ duplicate button in the top right corner of that section. This copies the lyrics, chords, and tabs — but not voice recordings (those are large audio files and are kept separate).

Click and drag the ⠿ handle on the left side of any section header to move it up or down in the song.

Lyrics are written inside sections. Add sections using the buttons at the bottom of the editor — Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Outro, and more. You can also click + Custom to name a section whatever you want.

Each section has an optional label field next to the section type badge — you can use this to number your verses ("Verse 1", "Verse 2") or add any other note.

Each section has two view modes. Edit is the plain text writing mode. Chords is a read/annotate mode that shows your lyrics character by character and lets you place chord names above specific letters. Switch between them using the small toggle buttons above the lyrics area.

Above the lyrics sections, there's a Vibe & Vision text area. Think of this as your song's creative brief — describe the mood, the story, the sonic world, what it should feel like. It has nothing to do with lyrics; it's just a space to capture your vision so you don't lose it.

Draftlord lets you place chord names above specific letters in your lyrics, just like a standard chord sheet. This means you can place a chord exactly where it falls — even mid-word or on a specific syllable.

1. In the lyrics section, click the Chords button (next to "Edit") to switch to chord view.

2. Click on any letter or character in your lyrics. A small popup appears.

3. Type the chord name (e.g. Am, G, F#m7) and press Enter.

4. The chord will float above that exact character. Letters that have a chord attached turn red so you can see them at a glance.

Click the letter that has a chord on it, then click the Clear button in the popup. The chord is removed.

When you export to PDF, Word, or plain text, chords are printed above the lyrics just like a professional chord sheet — with the chord name sitting above the exact word it corresponds to. You can turn chords off in the export options if you want a clean lyrics-only version.

Every song section has an ♩ Add Tab button. Clicking it opens a full guitar tab editor in a popup. When you're done, click ✓ Save Tab and the tab gets embedded into that section of the song. You can add multiple tabs per section.

The setup panel on the left lets you choose your instrument: 6, 7, 8, or 9-string guitar, or 4, 5, or 6-string bass. Each comes with its standard tuning pre-loaded. You can also manually adjust individual string tunings using the dropdowns in the tuning grid.

The default mode is Note. Click any fret on any string on the fretboard diagram to add that note to the tab. The note appears immediately in the tab preview below.

Drag left or right on a fret to create a slide or hammer-on/pull-off. A picker will appear asking which technique you want.

Drag upward on a fret to add a bend.

Click the string name buttons on the left side of the fretboard (E, A, D, etc.) to add a muted string (shown as "x" in the tab).

Switch to Chord mode to click multiple strings and add them as a single chord. Click each string you want included, then click Add Chord.

Switch to EZChord mode for the fastest way to add common chord shapes. Click on any fret — that becomes your root note. A popup appears letting you choose the chord type (Major, Minor, Dom 7, Sus2, Power Chord, Octave, and more). Draftlord automatically figures out the correct fret positions for all the strings and builds the full chord shape for you.

Slide chords: In EZChord mode, you can also click and drag sideways on a fret. This builds a slide chord — the chord shape slides from the starting fret to the ending fret on every string simultaneously.

Use ⎵ Space to add a visual gap between notes. Use ↵ New Row to start a fresh line in the tab (useful for long sections or new phrases).

In the tab preview, you can click any existing note to select it and edit its fret number, note type (slide, bend, hammer-on, pull-off), or delete it. You can also click on any dash (–) in the tab to add a new note directly at that position.

The ↩ Undo button steps back through your changes one at a time. Use it freely — nothing is permanent until you click Save Tab.

Click ▶ Play to hear your tab played back using synthesised guitar tones. Adjust BPM (tempo) and time signature in the Controls panel. You can also use the built-in metronome — click the dots to toggle it on or off.

Once a tab is saved into a section, click the ✎ Edit button on the tab block to reopen it in the editor with all your notes still intact.

Each section has a Record button. Clicking it starts recording from your microphone — click again to stop. Your recording is saved directly into that section of the song. You can add as many recordings as you like per section.

Use voice notes to capture melody ideas, rhythm patterns, lyric experiments, or any sound you want to remember while writing. Give each recording a label so you remember what it was.

Each voice note has a ▶ play button. Click it to listen. Click again to stop.

Click the ✕ button next to any voice note to permanently delete it.

Click ↓ Export Song (in the header or at the top of any song) to save a copy of your song to your computer. You can choose from four formats:

This is the complete song file. It includes everything: lyrics, chord markings, guitar tabs, all your song info — and optionally your voice recordings too. It can be imported back into Draftlord on any device. Think of this as your personal backup file. Save it somewhere safe.

A nicely formatted, print-ready document. Lyrics are shown with chord names above them, tabs are printed in monospace (the standard way tabs are written), and all your song info is at the top. Great for sharing with bandmates or printing for rehearsal.

An editable file that opens in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Good if you want to do additional formatting or share with someone who prefers working in Word.

The simplest format — just the raw text of your song. Universal — opens in any app on any device.

In the export modal, you'll see checkboxes for what to include: Song Info (title, artist, key, etc.), Lyrics, Chord Notation, Guitar Tabs, and Voice Notes (Song File only). Uncheck anything you don't want in that particular export.

Click ↑ Import Song in the header to load a previously exported Song File (.json) back into Draftlord. You'll be asked which folder to place it in, or you can leave it Unfiled. The song will open immediately with everything intact — including voice recordings if they were included in the file.

Draftlord has two ways of saving your work. Which one you use depends on your browser. Both save automatically — you never have to press a save button.

By default, Draftlord saves your songs inside your browser's built-in storage — a private space that every browser keeps on your computer. Think of it like a notebook that lives inside that specific browser. It works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and everything else.

The downside is that this storage is tied to the browser itself, not a file on your computer. If you ever clear your browser's cache or "clear browsing data", your songs will be wiped. It also has a size limit — roughly 5–10 MB across all your songs — so it can fill up if you store a lot of voice recordings.

If you're using Chrome or Edge, Draftlord can save your songs as an actual file directly to a folder on your computer — just like any other app. You choose the folder once, and from then on everything saves there automatically in the background.

This is a much more reliable way to work. Your songs are a real file you can see, copy, back up to a USB drive, or sync via Dropbox or Google Drive. There's no storage limit. Clearing your browser cache won't touch your songs. And if you open Draftlord on a different device, you just copy the folder over and point Draftlord at it.

The first time you open Draftlord in Chrome or Edge, you'll also see a green banner at the top offering to set this up. You can accept it there, or dismiss it and set it up later via the badge.

You can switch back to browser storage at any time by clicking the storage badge and choosing "Switch to browser storage." Your songs stay in the folder — they just won't auto-save there any more. You can also change which folder Draftlord saves to by clicking "Change folder location."

Draftlord remembers your folder choice. When you reopen it in Chrome or Edge, it automatically reconnects to the same folder and loads your songs. Occasionally the browser may ask you to confirm permission again — just click Allow when prompted.

Folder Mode uses a newer browser feature called the File System Access API. Firefox and Safari have chosen not to support it yet. If you use Firefox or Safari, browser storage is your option — just make sure to use the Export feature regularly to keep your own backups.

The panel on the right side of the screen has two tools to help with word choices while you write.

Type any word and you'll get a list of perfect rhymes (words that rhyme exactly) and near rhymes (words that almost rhyme — useful for slant rhymes and half rhymes, which are common in rock and metal songwriting). Click any word to instantly copy it to your clipboard.

Click the Thesaurus tab and type a word to get synonyms (words that mean the same thing), antonyms (words that mean the opposite), and related words. Click any word to copy it.

Click the 🌙 / ☀️ button in the top-right corner to switch between dark mode (the default) and light mode (bright background, dark text). Draftlord remembers your preference.

Draftlord is built to be free — and keeping it free means keeping it simple under the hood. Here's an honest explanation of what that means in practice.

Running a server that stores user data, handles logins, and syncs across devices costs real money — and that cost would eventually mean charging users. We didn't want to do that. Draftlord costs nothing to run and nothing for you to use. The trade-off is that you manage your own files, either through Folder Mode or the Export feature.

Whether you're in browser storage or Folder Mode, your songs live on one computer. To move them to another device, export a Song File (.json) and import it there. Or save your Draftlord folder inside Dropbox or Google Drive — those services will sync it for you automatically, which is the closest thing to cloud sync without a server.

If you use browser storage and clear your browser's cache or "clear browsing data," your songs will be deleted. This is the main risk of browser storage mode. Folder Mode avoids this completely — your songs are real files that clearing your cache cannot touch. If you stay in browser mode, export a Song File backup regularly.

Audio can't be embedded in a PDF or Word document. If you need your voice recordings preserved, use the Song File (.json) export with the "Voice Notes" checkbox ticked. In Folder Mode, recordings are stored as part of the main data file in your chosen folder.

The technology that lets Draftlord save directly to a folder on your computer is only available in Chrome and Edge. Firefox and Safari don't support it. If you use those browsers, browser storage and manual exports are your options — everything else works the same.

The rhyme dictionary and thesaurus need an internet connection to look up words. Everything else — writing, tabs, voice notes, exports, and folder saving — works completely offline once the page has loaded.

The ▶ Play feature in the tab editor uses synthesised tones to give you a rough idea of how your tab sounds. It's useful for checking timing and getting a general feel for a riff, but it won't sound like a real guitar. Think of it as a sketch, not a recording.