The song editor
Blanks
Leave a gap in a lyric line, set how many syllables it should be, and let Lyric Genie suggest words that fit it.
Showing the iOS appweb app
A blank is a gap you leave in a line on purpose. You know the line needs three syllables there, maybe one that rhymes with fire, but not which words yet. Write the rest of the line, leave a blank, and come back to it.
Lyric Genie counts a blank as the syllables it stands for, and can suggest words that fill it exactly.
What a blank is#
A blank is a run of underscores in your lyrics. Two underscores make one
syllable, so ____ is a two-syllable blank. The editor draws it as a single
coloured line with a dot between each syllable, rather than as underscores.
Because a blank is just text, it survives everything text does: syncing, copying, exporting, and collaborators seeing your tab. A single underscore on its own is an ordinary character, not a blank.
Making a blank#
Any of these work:
- Type underscores, two for each syllable.
- Insert Blank in the bar along the bottom of the editor iOS app only, or Blank in the song bar Web app only. Each tap adds one syllable at the cursor, or one more syllable to the blank already there.
- Make Blank on a selection swaps the words you selected for a blank of the same number of syllables. It is in the row of actions on iOS, and under ⋯ More on the web's selection toolbar.
⌥ ⌘ B (Ctrl Alt B on Windows and Linux) inserts a blank, and
Backspace beside a blank takes one syllable off it. See
Keyboard shortcuts.
The blank bar#
Tap or click a blank and it is selected whole, and a small bar appears over it.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| − and + | One syllable fewer or more, from 1 to 8. The bar shows the count between them. |
| Rhyme with… | The word the blank's fill should rhyme with. It offers the endings of the other lines in the verse, with its best guess first, plus Other word… and No rhyme. |
A rhyme you set shows faintly inside the blank, as ~word. It only lasts while
the song is open: it is not saved, and it goes once the blank is filled.
Filling a blank#
Tap a blank and, after a moment, Lyric Genie suggests ways to fill it. Each suggestion keeps your own words exactly and puts new words only in the gap, at the right number of syllables. Take one and the blank is replaced by it.
Fills only appear when you tap a blank or change it with the blank bar. Resting the cursor on a line with a blank shows nothing, so the suggestions never get in the way of the words you are still writing.
Fills work like in-line suggestions, so they use quick AI calls. See Plan limits.
Blanks in Wish Workshop#
Select a line with a blank in it and open Wish Workshop. Instead of rewriting the line, it fills the blank, with the wish you pick setting the character of the words. When the blank ends the line, the rhyme switch reads Rhyme with and the word, and tapping the word lets you choose another.
How other tools treat blanks#
- Syllable counts count a blank as its syllables. See Syllables.
- Rhyme letters in the margin skip a line that ends in a blank, since there is no word there to rhyme yet. See Rhyme colors and margins.