Beat Notation for Intros (Bars and Beat Holds)

Many worship leaders write an intro the way a band counts it: bar lines for each measure, and a mark for every beat the chord is held. With beat notation turned on, TimelyChurch reads those lines and shows them as a neat measure grid — the chords highlighted, the held beats shown as faint ticks, and every chord moving when you change the key.

Where to find it: Worship → Song Library, then the gear button at the top right (Song Library settings).

Turning It On

Beat notation is off for every church until someone turns it on.

1. Go to Worship → Song Library.
2. Click the gear button at the top right.
3. Tick Beat notation in chord charts (bars and beat holds).
4. Click Save.

The setting is for your whole church: every chart, every arrangement, My Stand, the PDFs and shared links all follow it.

Who can change it: church administrators, and anyone whose role lets them edit songs. A worship team leader who can edit songs only because they lead the worship team does not see the gear — ask your church administrator.

Lines that already use bars become the measure view when you turn this on.

If it is off, your charts look exactly as before. Nothing is changed in the text you wrote, so you can turn it on, look, and turn it off again at any time.

How to Write It

Write the line in the chord chart editor like any other line:

A few more things worth knowing:

• Chords can be written with or without brackets — C_Em_ and [C]_[Em]_ mean the same thing.
• _ can touch the chord (C_) or stand on its own (C _).
• A short word or two such as Ah... can sit inside a measure as a cue; it prints in italics in that measure. A repeat count at the end — x2, x4, (x2) — shows the same way.
• A measure is 4 beats unless your chart says otherwise with a time signature line such as {time: 3/4} or {time: 6/8} — put it near the top of the chart, with your key.
• A measure that doesn't add up to the time signature still shows, just as you wrote it.

Tip: In the chord chart editor, Insert → Beat line puts a ready line in for you: INTRO: | C _ _ _ | G _ _ _ |. Change the chords and holds to fit your song. This menu item appears only when beat notation is on.

Example 1 — An Intro Written Beat by Beat

This is a real intro from one of our churches (key of C, 4/4):

{key: C}
{time: 4/4}
INTRO : |  C_ _C/D | C_Em_ | F_C/E_ | Dm C/E F F#dim | Gsus4_G_ | C_Em_
| F_C G/B |  Ah... Am_Em_ | Dm7_G_ |

Read the first line measure by measure:

The second line carries on without a label: F_C G/B is F for two beats, then C, then G/B; the next measure has the cue Ah... before Am and Em.

Example 2 — A Simple Four-Bar Intro

A pop-style intro with one chord per bar:

INTRO: | G _ _ _ | D _ _ _ | Em _ _ _ | C _ _ _ |

Because a measure with a single chord fills the whole bar, this is the same, shorter:

INTRO: | G | D | Em | C |

To play it twice, add a repeat of the last measure or just write the line again — or use % for "same as the bar before":

INTRO: | G | D | Em | C | G | D | % | C |

Example 3 — A Song in 3/4

For a waltz-time hymn, tell the chart there are three beats in a bar:

{key: G}
{time: 3/4}
INTRO: | G _ _ | C _ _ | D _ D7 | G _ _ |

Each measure is now three beats: G held for the whole bar, C for the whole bar, D for two beats then D7, and G to finish.

How It Shows

The beat line becomes one row of measures, in the same chord colour as the rest of your chart. Held beats are faint dashes, bar lines are faint, and the label stays in front.

Transposing

Chords in a beat line move exactly like chords in brackets:

• Changing the key on My Stand, in the editor previews, on a shared link or in the PDF export moves them — C/D in C becomes D/E in D, and F#dim becomes G#dim.
• Capo shows the shapes to play, just like the rest of the chart.
• The Numbers view turns them into Nashville numbers.

What you wrote is never changed — transposing only changes what is shown.

Note: with beat notation on, the editor's Written in → Rewrite in… (rewriting the chart in a new key) also rewrites the chords on your beat lines — only the chord names change; your bars, holds and spacing stay exactly as you typed them.

When a Line Is Not Read as a Beat Line

TimelyChurch only treats a line as a beat line when it is clearly one: at least one bar |, chords, holds, and at most a couple of short cue words. A lyric line that happens to contain a | or a _ stays a lyric, exactly as you wrote it.

If your intro still shows as plain text:

• Check there is at least one | on the line.
• Make sure every word is a chord, a _, a % or a short cue (no more than two words).
• Section labels go at the very start, before the first |.
• If every chord on the line is a single letter or a word too (C, G, Am, La), write at least one _ hold — | G _ _ _ | C _ _ _ | — so the line can't be mistaken for a song map like Intro | C | B | C.
• Lines that start with Key, Capo, BPM or Tempo are song details, never beat lines.
• A line written with the / beat mark from the Rhythm menu (| [G] / / / |) keeps showing the way it always has.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning it on change my charts? No. The text you wrote is never changed. Turn it off and every chart looks exactly as it did before.

Is it on for every church? No. Each church decides for itself, and it starts off.

My measure has five beats. Is that an error? No. It shows as you wrote it. Check the time signature line if the whole song is in 3/4 or 6/8.

Can I mix bracketed and plain chords? Yes. | [C] _ Em _ | works the same as | C _ Em _ |.

Related Articles

• Writing a Chord Chart in the Editor — the workspace, sections, chords, rhythm marks and the Insert menu
• Keys, Transposing and What the Band Sees — how keys and capo work
• My Stand — The Big Picture — what the band reads on the stand
• Exporting Charts and Slides — every export format

Last updated: October 30, 2026