How to Auto Scroll Chord Sheets and Lyrics on iPad and iPhone
You can’t swipe a screen while you’re holding a guitar, and stopping mid-song to scroll is exactly when you lose your place. If your chord charts and lyrics live on websites, you can make the page move by itself – at a speed that matches the song.
This guide covers what works in Safari on iPad and iPhone, how to work out the right speed from a song’s tempo, and how to set up the device so nothing interrupts you while you play.
Option 1: use the site’s own autoscroll, if it has one
Some chord sites, such as Ultimate Guitar, have an autoscroll control of their own. If the site you use has one and it works for you, use it.
The catch is that most sites don’t – lyrics sites, church and worship band sites, personal blogs with chord charts, and shared Google Docs published to the web generally have no autoscroll at all. And when you jump between sites in a set, every one behaves differently.
Option 2: a Safari auto scroll extension
A Safari extension like Glida adds one autoscroll control to every website in Safari. You set a speed, press play, and the page moves at a steady pace until you pause it. Glida also remembers a speed for each website, so a slow ballad chart on one site and an upbeat chord sheet on another can each keep their own setting.
Set it up:
- Install Glida and turn the extension on in Settings → Apps → Safari → Extensions (see our step-by-step guide).
- Open your chord sheet in Safari.
- Tap the Glida icon, choose a speed, and press play.
Glida’s on-page controls include a Slider layout that works like a teleprompter speed knob, and a Full Dock with back to top – handy for going back to the top for the next song.
Sheet music PDFs: Glida scrolls web pages, not PDF files. For notated sheet music in PDF form, a dedicated score reader app with page turning is the better tool.
Matching scroll speed to the song’s tempo
The goal is simple: each line of the chart should reach the middle of the screen as you start playing it.
Most chord charts put 4 bars on a line, and most songs are in 4/4 time. That gives a quick formula for how long you spend on each line:
Seconds per line = (beats per bar × bars per line × 60) ÷ BPM
For 4/4 with 4 bars per line, that’s 960 ÷ BPM:
| Tempo (BPM) | Feel | Seconds per line |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | Slow ballad | 16 s |
| 80 | Relaxed | 12 s |
| 100 | Mid-tempo | 9.6 s |
| 120 | Upbeat pop/rock | 8 s |
| 140 | Driving | 6.9 s |
Charts with lyrics usually have more space between lines than a bare chord chart, so the page needs to move a little faster for the same tempo.
A practical way to set it:
- Start the song (or a metronome at the song’s BPM).
- Start the auto scroll at a slow speed.
- Watch one line: if it reaches the top of the screen before you’ve played it, slow down; if you’re playing lines that are near the bottom, speed up.
- Once it’s right, leave it – Glida remembers it for that website.
Songs with long instrumental breaks are easier with a quick pause: tap the floating control to pause at the solo and tap again to carry on.
Set up your iPad for playing
- Turn off Auto-Lock while you play: Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never.
- Use Guided Access to stop accidental touches from a guitar neck or sleeve: Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access, then triple-click the top or side button in Safari to start it.
- Use Safari Reader on cluttered pages so only the chart is left – if the site’s formatting survives it. Some chord sites lose their alignment in Reader; if so, use Safari’s page zoom instead.
- Landscape or portrait? Portrait shows more lines at once, which gives you more look-ahead. Landscape gives bigger text. Pick based on how far you are from the stand.
- Mount it at eye level. A mic-stand tablet clamp keeps the screen where you’re already looking.
Frequently asked questions
Can I control the scroll with a foot pedal? Bluetooth page-turner pedals usually send arrow or page keys. In Safari these jump a screen at a time rather than starting a continuous scroll, so they work best as a backup alongside auto scroll.
Will it work in a chord app instead of Safari? No – Glida is a Safari extension, so it only works on web pages in Safari.
Does it work on iPhone too? Yes. The same setup works on iPhone, though you’ll see fewer lines at once on the smaller screen.
For more hands-free options on iPhone and iPad, see every way to auto scroll on iPhone & iPad.