Is there a way to get the computer to automatically input the song structure of a song from Ultimate Guitar into Strum Machine? I am using Ultimate Guitar Pro. Sometimes, for the instrumental part it will show the chord progression in the same visual format as it is on Strum Machine, however I would like to spend less time transcribing songs and more time practicing them. Thanks
Having put up a few websites myself, uploading data to import into a database is fraught with risks and complications. Is there an included virus? Is the data formatted correctly and does it make sense? Are there errors in the data itself that make it impossible to import? and so on. It’s pretty easy to input or edit a chord progression so if Luke hasn’t already written an import routine, I don’t know if it would be worth the time/expense. On the other hand, the songs already publicly available are only a fraction of what probably exists. The song you want to input may well already exist. It would be nice to be able to search the database for ALL of the existent songs with their authors and be able to ask the authors for a link if you find one you want.
There are no official importers yet. This is something I want to offer, however it will likely be limited to more structured data that includes both chords and timing information (i.e. MusicXML, Guitar Pro, iReal Pro).
If you have text/ASCII chord charts and you’d like to try your hand at importing them, you could potentially use Claude Code or another AI tool to write an importer that transforms the text into JSON that can be used with the Strum Machine API. The API is currently “alpha level” and invite-only, but send me an email and I’ll set you up with an API key. It allows you to create or edit your personal library of songs. It also allows you to delete all your songs with no way to get them back, so use caution especially in conjunction with AI tooling!
FWIW there is another user who had a whole collection of ASCII chord charts he’d collected over the years and he was able to use this technique to add them all to his Strum Machine account in a single day.
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