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Chord explorer

Pick a root and a chord quality. The notes appear on the staff and the keyboard — or a guitar or bass neck — with the chord symbol, and you can hear the chord struck (strummed, on guitar) or broken into single notes.

Chord explorer

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Build a chord

Pick a root and a quality. The notation, the keys or frets and the sound all follow.

Root
Quality
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SelectedC4E4G4

CDEFGABC4DE4FG4ABC

Violet: the chord selected now, C4–G4. Dots: the other C, E, G keys. Press a chord tone to play the chord from the root at or below it; any other key plays alone.

CEG
See where these chord tones are on the fretboard →
C — C · E · G. Built 1 – 3 – 5 above the root.

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How a chord is built

Most chords are thirds stacked on a root. A major triad puts a major third on the bottom and a minor third above it — C, E, G. Swap the order of the two thirds and you have a minor triad, C, E♭, G: one note, one semitone, and the character of the chord turns over. Seventh chords add one more third on top; suspended chords replace the third with a second or a fourth; added-note chords keep the triad and put a sixth or ninth with it.

The root decides where the chord is; the quality decides which intervals sit above it. Change the root with the quality fixed and the shape on the keyboard slides along unchanged, even as the spelling picks up sharps or flats.

On Guitar or Bass, every fret that plays a chord tone is marked: the chord's notes wherever they fall on the first twelve frets, not a chord shape — a playable chord takes one of them per string. On guitar the chord is strummed, lowest note first.

Have the notes and want the name instead? The chord identifier works the other way round: press the keys and it names the chord, its inversion, and every other chord the same notes could be.

The chord types

ChordFormulaOn C
Major triad1 – 3 – 5C major = C – E – G
Minor triad1 – ♭3 – 5Cm = C – E♭ – G
Diminished triad1 – ♭3 – ♭5Cdim = C – E♭ – G♭
Augmented triad1 – 3 – ♯5Caug = C – E – G♯
Suspended second1 – 2 – 5Csus2 = C – D – G
Suspended fourth1 – 4 – 5Csus4 = C – F – G
Major seventh1 – 3 – 5 – 7Cmaj7 = C – E – G – B
Dominant seventh1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7C7 = C – E – G – B♭
Minor seventh1 – ♭3 – 5 – ♭7Cm7 = C – E♭ – G – B♭
Half-diminished seventh1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭7Cm7♭5 = C – E♭ – G♭ – B♭
Diminished seventh1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭♭7Cdim7 = C – E♭ – G♭ – B𝄫
Major sixth1 – 3 – 5 – 6C6 = C – E – G – A
Added ninth1 – 3 – 5 – 9Cadd9 = C – E – G – D

New to chord symbols? Chord symbols explains how “Cm7” turns into notes, and triads starts from the beginning.

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