Is Lilypond right for this need?

[Cliff Pruitt]

Hi All,
I wrote earlier today about a first time use question and got a very  
helpful answer, so first let me say thanks to the list as a whole.

I'm starting to learn Lilypond and I think its a great piece of  
software.  Obviously there is a learning curve but I'm OK with that.   
Before I get too far into it, however, I want to be sure Lilypond is  
the right tool for the job at hand and I'm hoping for some advice  
from some of you that have experience with the app.

I lead music for my church and am looking for a piece of software to  
allow me to create the lead sheets for my band. I am having to re- 
create my entire music library after the theft of a laptop and I'm  
taking the opportunity to try & increase the quality of our sheets. I  
have bits & pieces of theory training and am trying to self teach  
myself to fill in the holes, but I'm a novice at best.

So, what I need is a piece of software that can be very basic to  
begin with, but allow me to expand as the team grows in experience.   
I used to use a regular word processor for my sheets, but that  
obviously does not let me transpose or include any actual music  
notation when its apropriate.


In step 1 I need to just provide lyrics for my vocalists, and lyrics  
with chord names for the musicians.  So for example I would need the  
Lilypond equivalent of:

G      D       C         D
  Over all the earth You reign on

G
high

My challenge in reading the tutorials is that I am not very  
proficient in working out the correct rhythmic structures.  I would  
like to enter lyrics based really on nothing more than measures, and  
then be sure that the chord names are above the correct syllable. I  
can't seem to figure out how to do this correctly for several  
reasons.  For one, I cant figure out how to include a space in the  
lyrics when there are chords without vocals.  Is it required that the  
lyrics match their own melody line?  I suppose that would be logical.


I guess my questions is, is Lilypond geared toward formal music to  
the extent that there is no easy way to use it for simple chord  
sheets until I become proficient enough to use it for melody lines?

Thanks so much for any advice,
Cliff