Hymns with chords, free to use
Public-domain hymns with chords, by name in Find a song or by topic and Scripture on Browse hymns, imported in any key.
PraisePad has a library of about 240 hymns with chords, every one in the public domain, so you can use them without a licence and without a CCLI number. Type a hymn's name in , or open to pick one by topic or by Scripture; see it in any key, then press .
Open in PraisePad to try it
Where the hymns come from
The words and the music are from the Open Hymnal Project, a collection of hymns whose words and tunes are old enough to belong to everyone. PraisePad keeps only the hymns whose words, tune and harmony are all in the public domain, so there's nothing to license and nothing to report. A hymn you import says Public domain in its copyright line, and the CCLI report leaves it out, as it does any public-domain song.
Find one
- In , type the name, a first line, a writer or a tune. Hymns show in their own section, after the songs in your library and before the chart sites. A hymn you already have says .
- is on Find a song's first screen and in the menu on the songs list. Choose for the hymnal's own topics (Christmas, Easter, the Lord's Supper, Trust and the rest), or for the book, then the chapter where the hymnal names one. The search box at the top looks through every hymn's title, first line, writer and tune, and the words the hymnal says each hymn is about, so comfort lists the hymns of comfort.
Look, then import
Press a hymn to see its chart in PraisePad's own style, with to try another key. The chords come from the hymnal's own four-part harmony, simplified to the chords a band plays, so they may differ from a chart you know. Play the hymn through once before Sunday.
Press for the usual review. The card arrives with the hymn's title and writers, Public domain, its key, time and tempo, its themes from the hymnal's topics in your church's own words, and on its tune and setting. A hymn with a refrain comes in as Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, with every verse there; trim the order on the song's page as usual. A hymn you already have is pointed out, and the review lets you add it as another arrangement instead.