# Notes app vs a lyrics app for gigs

> Why Apple Notes and Google Keep fall apart on stage — and what a lyrics and chord chart app keeps lined up.

Source: https://lyricslibrary.app/blog/notes-app-vs-lyrics-app

A notes app is fine for a grocery list. It is a weak gig binder. Chords drift when the font changes, the screen sleeps during the quiet verse, and “tonight’s order” is a pile of pinned notes you cannot swipe through in the dark.

A lyrics app — Lyrics Library, in this case — treats the page as a **chart**: words you sing, chords you tap onto those words, a setlist for the night, and a [stage view](/blog/stage-view-lyrics-on-phone) that stays awake.

## What breaks in Notes or Keep

**Alignment.** You type `G` over “walk” on a laptop. On the phone the line wraps and G sits over “home.” The band plays the change late.

**No real transpose.** You duplicate the note and find-replace `G` to `A`, then miss the one in the bridge. Or you capo in your head and read the old shapes wrong.

**No set, just search.** Tonight’s four songs are somewhere under last month’s drafts. There is no running order, only hope.

**The screen goes to sleep.** A ballad ends, the phone dims, and you are unlocking during the count-in.

**Chords are just letters.** There is no diagram, no hide-chords mode, no capo control. It is a text file wearing a music job.

[Download Lyrics Library free](/#download) if you want charts that stay on the words when you rotate the phone.

## What a lyrics app keeps honest

**Chords on syllables.** You [tap the word](/blog/add-guitar-chords-to-lyrics). The mark travels with that syllable when type size changes.

**Transpose and capo on the same chart.** One source lyric. Live key. See [transpose without reprinting](/blog/transpose-lyrics-and-chords).

**Setlists.** Name the night, put songs in order, swipe. That is different from a folder of everything you have ever saved. See [how to build a setlist](/blog/build-a-setlist-for-tonight).

**Stage reading.** Large type, optional auto-scroll, screen awake. You look up more.

**A library that can sync.** Sign in with Apple or Google and the same catalog is on the next device. A notes app can sync text; it still will not behave like a chart.

## When a notes app is enough

If you are humming a scrap melody on the bus and only need a line of words, a note is fine. Capture it, then move it into the library before the gig. Do not perform from the scrap.

If you need a legal archive of email, use email. If you need a chord chart, use a chord chart.

## A fair comparison

| Job on stage | Notes / Keep | Lyrics Library |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Keep lyrics readable | Sometimes | Designed for it |
| Keep chords on the word | Breaks on wrap | Tap to place |
| Change key tonight | Manual edits | Transpose / capo |
| Play four songs in order | Hunt and hope | Setlist + swipe |
| Screen stays on | You fight settings | Stage view |
| Same library on two devices | Text sync | Account sync |

No fake download counts, no “everyone switched last year.” If your night is three spoken-word pieces with no harmony, a note might do. If anyone is playing guitar, the chart should be a chart.

## Move one song over

Pick a tune you already trust. Paste the lyric. Place two chords. Add it to a two-song setlist. Open stage view. That is the test — not a feature matrix.

Questions about accounts, backup, and privacy are in the [FAQ](/faq). The app is free; tips and the monthly supporter plan do not unlock extra features.