Where do you write the chords and lyrics?

I am in the habit of writing the chords to the Project Settings /Notes window. The problem is that this is a modal window, so I cannot do anything with Reaper while looking at the chords. With the lyrics - I have organized the songs into annual directories, and in the directory for 2010 for example I have one doc-file which contains the lyrics for all the songs in that directory. It also serves as an index (if I want to quickly find out what was the song that used a certain phrase). But somehow I feel that the lyrics should go with the song, although I haven't found a suitable way to write the lyrics in Reaper. What solutions do you use for the chords and lyrics?

Here's a way to do chords: And here for lyrics: You could also write the lyrics into empty items.

You can also put chords and lyrics (and other cues) in MIDI items as Text events. It's not fancy, but it fast and easy (and you don't have to have actual MIDI notes/etc in the item.)

useful - another great thing :-)

They can be viewed in track view if you turn on the inline midi editor for those items. But (as far as I can tell) the only way to make the text lane visible is from the separate MIDI editor -- the inline editor follows the lane-display state of the separate one. You can create a track that's nothing but chords and lyrics inside a MIDI item, and then position that track where you need it (eg under the bass or vocal tracks etc.) One downside to this -- and this applies to the inline midi editor generally -- is that it doesn't scale well when the track height (or the item's FIPM height) are changed.

Hey everyone, Following Marah Mag's lead here, I myself have been experimenting with making Lyrics visible/editable in the arrange. So, here's a track template (goes into the "....Application Data\REAPER\Track Templates" and a small macro to open it up (import to actions list). Also in case anyone wants to know step by step details - there's also a .pdf with my what I was going to post before realizing - even I'd rather not read that much detail :) Added: oh, The Insert Lyric track mini Macro I've uploaded is mapped to Shift+Ctrl+L... of course change it and anything else to suit or improve.... You need to have SWS extensions installed to for the above to work as shown: Visibility may vary a little from theme to theme, so also just in case here's where you can adjust the text color/shade in Preferences: note: Currently, the CC lanes background color settings is linked/dependent on the Midi Editor Time line (ruler) settings in the Prefs, Theme Editor located as in the above thumb/screen shot. Also though I haven't been using it much atm - I think the fairly new S&M Notes/Help Window Extension seems like an excellent note tool - so check it out if you haven't. Might be good to use with other ideas too. I hope my input helps more ideas here along! -a another add: oo.. and - You may need to adjust the item and CC lane height to suit your own settings ie- if you have your item labels drawn above your items.. no biggy just make your adjustments / color changes / re- labelling and then select the track - re-save it making sure the include Track items box is ticked on the save dialog window...

Marah Mag and arkima - thanks very much for your input - I will try this tonight - very promising indeed :D

Couldnt wait until tonight! - tried it out and its a great help, thanks again - and Arkima thanks for the pdf of instructions - I for one like to understand how to make stuff from first principles rather than just add in pre-made macros. keys.

A yellow legal pad is also an option...