Start with a song you own
Import a compatible downloaded audio file, or an unprotected song from your Music/iTunes library. Protected Apple Music subscription tracks and streaming-only songs cannot be imported. Analysis runs on your device.
Review the chord timeline
Use TIMELINE to see chords against the recording, or CHORDS to read guitar diagrams and saved lyrics. Slow playback and loop a short section while you listen. Chord detection is a starting point: recording quality, distortion and overlapping instruments can affect the result.
In a test of 742 song files, audio-only chord detection averaged around 80% agreement with supplied reference chords during stable chord passages. The median song scored over 80%. This is reference agreement, rather than a guarantee that every chord in a recording is correct.
Correct one chord or matching chords
Click a chord on Mac, or tap it on iPad or iPhone, to hear it. Double-click or double-tap to edit. If F should be F7, choose F7 and Apply for that chord. Apply to All changes matching F chords throughout the open song. You can also choose a different guitar voicing, such as an F shape at fret 1 or fret 8.
Detect notes for guitar practice
With a song open, choose Settings → DETECT NOTES to analyse the recording and rebuild its note suggestions after confirmation. The separate + NOTES → Scan Song for Notes command looks for a clear opening riff and adds notes. If it cannot identify a clear riff, that scan may add a sparse pattern based on the song’s chords. Those chord-based notes are practice suggestions, not a transcription.
Fast solos, overlapping instruments and distorted passages can produce missing or mistaken notes. There is no established reliable overall note-detection accuracy percentage. Listen, review and edit the suggested string, fret and timing.
Delete selected notes or every note
Settings → + NOTES → Delete Selected Notes removes your selection. Delete all notes clears every note from the open song after confirmation. Cancel keeps the notes; Undo restores a completed deletion. Chords, lyrics, practice regions and audio are kept. Neither command deletes the song or clears other Library songs.
Review completion, Undo and REVERT
After detection, review its completion message. Undo restores the note map from before that detection or scan, including earlier manual edits. REVERT restores the state captured when the song was opened and clears its current Undo/Redo history, so it serves a different purpose.
Rebuild only the open song
Settings → REBUILD CHORDS and DETECT NOTES affect the song currently open. Review the confirmation before replacing generated material. The actions support Undo; they do not rebuild every song in your Library.
Find a starting fret for soloing
The Pentatonic number shows where your first finger starts the movable pattern on the low E string. It is a fret number, not a finger number. Learn the pentatonic pattern in Guitar Theory →