Spell it

Name the chord's 3 notes, root first.

Positions

Stay in one area of the neck and find the chord on every set of strings.

Climb the neck

One chord, one set of strings, from the bottom of the neck to the top.

Learn the order of the three shapes once, and you never hunt for a chord again.

Why climb the neck?

Every triad has three shapes on each set of strings: root position, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion. Going up the neck they always come in the same order, root, 1st, 2nd, and the pattern starts over 12 frets higher.

From any shape you know, you know where the next one is, above it or below it.

That's what gets you out of one corner of the neck: play any chord close to where your hand already is, move a part higher or lower, and connect chords smoothly in stages 5 to 7.

Change one note

Move one note and the chord changes type. Learn which note, which way and why.

Read chord symbols

A chord symbol tells you which notes to play. Read it, spell it, then find it.

Nashville Numbers

Session players read numbers, not chord names: 1 is the key's root chord, 4 and 5 are built on the 4th and 5th notes, and a minus sign means minor. Same chart, any key. Learn to write a chart, chart real songs, then test yourself.

Bigger chords

Big chords are small chords stacked. Find the triads inside 7ths and 9ths, stack triads into new chords, and meet some famous ones.

Your own practice

Practice your way: your own sets of shapes, fix a broken shape, or picture shapes with no guitar in your hands.

Your progress

Everything you've mastered, what's due, and where you're slow. Then a quick game.

Choosing the part

A session player doesn't just know the chord; they choose where to play it. Over the bass, with the melody on top, and out of the way of the other guitar.

Play whole songs

Play real songs in any key with the shapes you know. The app listens to each chord.

Play along

Build a loop from the shapes you've mastered and play along on your guitar, with a click and the next shape shown a beat early.

Mixed review

Notes, spellings and shapes, mixed. After each answer, say whether you were sure.

Play it

Play the shape on your guitar. The app listens.

Fretboard

Know every note cold, and any chord is a few rules away.

Say each note out loud as you answer. It's slower at first, but it's how you learn them.

Next automatically after a correct answer

Quiz settings

Strings

Major key

Frets

String names

Neck

A major key asks only its 7 notes, spelled its way (in G: F♯, never G♭). All 12 notes asks every note. Pick notes lets you choose.

Why the notes matter

You can learn a few chord shapes without knowing the notes. But to play fluidly, you need to know them cold.

Knowing a note cold means it's just there, like 2 + 2 = 4. No counting. You look at a string and fret, and you know the note.

This app has over 5,000 chord shapes. Nobody memorizes them all. You learn a few rules and build the shape you need, and that only works if the notes are automatic. If you're counting frets, every chord becomes a math problem, and your thinking mind becomes the point of failure.

So learn the fretboard first. Spell it, Name it and Find it all build on it.

See the fretboard map

This is where every note is on the fretboard, up to the 12th fret.

The 13th fret is essentially the same as the 1st fret, just an octave higher, so the pattern starts over from there.

The gray notes in between the letters are sharps (♯) and flats (♭). Each one has two names: C♯ is the same note as D♭. Which name you use depends on the key you're in. For example, the key of D uses F♯ and C♯, while the key of F uses B♭. Every C is purple.

Tap any note to hear it.

How chords work

Do I need all this theory?

For a few shapes, no. To play any chord in any song, yes, but less than you think: every note on the fretboard, plus a few simple rules. Most songs need only a handful: minor, sus2, sus4, 7ths and 9ths. Practice with focus every day and, over several months, you'll build a toolbox of chords you can play anywhere on the neck, without memorizing thousands of shapes.

Stage 1 · Master the notes

What a triad is, and the notes inside it.

1

Notes and scales

Every chord is built from the same 12 notes.

12 notes: all music uses the same 12 notes, then they repeat an octave higher. Seven are plain letters: C D E F G A B. The other five sit between them and have two names each: the note between C and D is C♯ (C raised) or D♭ (D lowered). Same fret, two names, and the app asks for each.

Scale: a major scale picks 7 of those 12. Start it on any of the 12 notes and you get that key: 12 notes, 12 major keys. Some keys use sharps (♯) or flats (♭).

C major has no sharps or flats:

C1D2E3F4G5A6B7

G major has one sharp, F♯:

G1A2B3C4D5E6F♯7

2

What's a triad?

A triad is the simplest chord: three notes played together.

Chord: three or more notes played together, each on its own string. The open G chord rings all 6 strings but uses only three notes: G, B and D.

G majorGRB3D5

Triad: the simplest chord, three notes. A major triad uses notes 1, 3 and 5 of the major scale. In C, that's C, E and G.

3

Finding the root (example: C major)

A chord's root is the note it's named after and built on. The app marks it R.

To build a chord, start a major scale on its root and count up.

We use the C major scale for our examples because it has no sharps or flats: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. The number under each note is its place in the scale, so G is the 5th note of C major.

Tap any key below to see its notes. The 1 and the 5 stay in the same spots, so you can compare keys.

4

Major vs. minor

Until you're past the intermediate level, most triads you'll play are major or minor. The next most common are four-note chords like 7ths (Stage 4).

To make a major triad minor, lower the 3rd note of the scale one fret (also called a semitone).

Other types have their own rules: diminished lowers the 3rd and 5th; augmented raises the 5th. Every rule is in Stage 4, Build any chord.

Here's G major on the top three strings. Tap Make it minor and watch the one note that moves.

G majorGRB3D5

Only the 3rd moves: B drops one fret to B♭. Tap the chart to hear it.

Stages 2–3 · Recognize and find the shapes

The same triad in different places on the neck.

5

Inversions: changing the order of a triad

When you change the order of a triad's notes, low to high, it's called an inversion.

Root position: R-3-5 (C E G)
1st inversion: start on the 3rd: 3-5-R (E G C)
2nd inversion: start on the 5th: 5-R-3 (G C E)

Same three notes each time, so you can play one chord in three places on the same three strings. C is still the root, wherever it sits.

Same for the 3rd and 5th: "the 3rd" is always the 3rd note up from the root.

Here's 1st inversion on the scale. C moves up an octave, above E and G, but it's still the root:

Voicing is the wider word for how a chord's notes are arranged. Closed and open triads (next) are two voicings.

Pick major or minor and an inversion, and watch the notes move.

6

Closed vs. open triads

So far, every triad has been closed: the notes sit as close as they can, within one octave, on three strings side by side.

An open (or spread) triad stretches past an octave, so the shape skips a string. Closed and open are two voicings of the same chord.

This "open" has nothing to do with open strings. It means spread out, and it works anywhere on the neck.

Both charts are C in root position. In the open one, the E (the 3) jumps up an octave to become the 10: same notes, wider sound. Tap each chart.

The × means skip that string: pluck only the three strings, or mute the skipped one with a fretting finger.

Stage 4 · Build any chord

The rules that turn one chord into another. Best once you can find major and minor triads anywhere.

7

Naming rules: how chord names tell you the notes

Every chord name in the app is a recipe.

The numbers count notes of the major scale from the root. A ♭ (flat) lowers a note one fret; a ♯ (sharp) raises it one fret.

Start from C major and tap a rule. You'll hear each change and see the chord it makes.

Purple = a note raised or lowered one fret (one semitone), which makes it a sharp (♯) or flat (♭). (The 𝄫7 in dim7 is lowered two frets.) Pink = a note that's been added or swapped in, with no flat or sharp (like the 4th in sus4, or the 7th in Maj7).

Triads (3 notes)

MajormajorR 3 5C E GThe basic triad. Bright and happy.

mminorR ♭3 5C E♭ GFlat the 3rd. Darker, sadder.

+augmentedR 3 ♯5C E G♯Sharp the 5th. Tense and dreamy.

dimdiminishedR ♭3 ♭5C E♭ G♭Flat the 3rd and the 5th. Tense and unstable.

sus2suspended 2ndR 2 5C D GSwap the 3rd for the 2nd. Airy, unresolved.

sus4suspended 4thR 4 5C F GSwap the 3rd for the 4th. Wants to move back to major.

Four-note chords

6sixthR 3 5 6C E G AMajor triad plus the 6th.

m6minor sixthR ♭3 5 6C E♭ G AMinor triad plus the 6th.

Maj7major seventhR 3 5 7C E G BMajor triad plus the 7th. Soft and jazzy.

7seventh (dominant)R 3 5 ♭7C E G B♭Major triad plus a flat 7th. Bluesy; wants to resolve.

7sus4seventh, suspended 4thR 4 5 ♭7C F G B♭A sus4 chord plus the flat 7th. On three strings the 5th is left out, so C7sus4 (C F B♭) uses the same notes as Fsus4 and B♭sus2: the bass note decides the name.

m7minor seventhR ♭3 5 ♭7C E♭ G B♭Minor triad plus a flat 7th. Smooth and mellow.

m7♭5half-diminishedR ♭3 ♭5 ♭7C E♭ G♭ B♭Diminished triad plus a flat 7th.

dim7diminished seventhR ♭3 ♭5 𝄫7C E♭ G♭ B𝄫Diminished triad plus a double-flat 7th (two frets down). Every note is the same distance apart.

+7augmented seventhR 3 ♯5 ♭7C E G♯ B♭Augmented triad plus a flat 7th.

7♭5seventh, flat fiveR 3 ♭5 ♭7C E G♭ B♭A 7 chord with the 5th flatted.

Extended and add chords (9ths, 11ths, 13ths)

add9add nineR 3 5 9C E G DMajor triad plus the 9th (the 2nd, an octave up). No 7th.

m(add9)minor add nineR ♭3 5 9C E♭ G DMinor triad plus the 9th. No 7th.

add11add elevenR 3 5 11C E G FMajor triad plus the 11th (the 4th, an octave up). No 7th.

9ninthR 3 5 ♭7 9C E G B♭ DA 7 chord plus the 9th.

Maj9major ninthR 3 5 7 9C E G B DA Maj7 chord plus the 9th.

m9minor ninthR ♭3 5 ♭7 9C E♭ G B♭ DAn m7 chord plus the 9th.

m11minor eleventhR ♭3 5 ♭7 9 11C E♭ G B♭ D FAn m9 chord plus the 11th (the 4th, an octave up).

13thirteenthR 3 5 ♭7 9 13C E G B♭ D AA 9 chord plus the 13th (the 6th, an octave up). The 11th is usually left out.

Maj7(♯11)major seventh, sharp elevenR 3 5 7 ♯11C E G B F♯A Maj7 chord plus a sharp 11th. Bright and floating.

7(♭9)seventh, flat nineR 3 5 ♭7 ♭9C E G B♭ D♭A 7 chord plus a flat 9th. Dark and tense.

Three strings hold three notes, so the bigger chords leave some out: usually the 5th, sometimes the root.

8

Four-note chords, like the 7th chord

A major triad is 1, 3 and 5. Add a fourth note, and the note you add names the chord: the 6th makes C6, the 9th makes Cadd9, the 7th makes a 7th chord. The 7th is the most common.

In C major the 7th note is B, so C-E-G-B is C major 7 (Cmaj7): soft and jazzy.

Plain C7 uses B♭ instead: one fret lower, just outside C major. That flat 7th sounds bluesy and wants to move on.

C7 is also called C dominant 7th. The 5th note of a key is called the dominant: in F major, it's C. Build a chord on that C from F major's notes and you get C-E-G-B♭, which is exactly C7. That's why C7 pulls back home to F.

On three strings one note has to go, usually the 5th, because the R, 3 and 7 carry the sound.

9

Beyond the 7th: 9ths, 11ths and 13ths

Keep stacking every other note past the 7th and you climb into the next octave. The count doesn't start over: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

So the "new" notes are ones you know, an octave up:

the 9th is the 2nd (in C, D)
the 11th is the 4th (F)
the 13th is the 6th (A)

That's why C9 has a D and C13 has an A. These are called extended chords.

Here's one you'll use: Cadd9. It's the open C chord with one change: the C on the B string moves up two frets to a D. Because the count keeps going, that D is the 9 (the 2, an octave up). An add9 adds the 9 without the 7th. Tap it and watch the 9 light up.

Stage 5 · Connect the chords

A progression is chords in order. Numbers name each chord by its place in the key. Small numbers (ii, iii, vi) are minor.

Key of G, left to right:

GIAmiiBmiiiCIVDVEmviF♯°vii°

Every major key follows the same pattern: Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished.

Guitarists play them with the closest shapes: each chord moves as little as it can from the last, so your hand barely travels and the notes flow.

Then stay in one position: in 3rd position your hand covers frets 2 to 7. Your index finger stays mostly around fret 3 and can slip back to fret 2; your pinky reaches up to fret 7. Find every chord of the progression inside that area, on whatever strings it falls. That's across the neck ↕. Sliding to the closest shape is along it ↔. Progressions mix both, and that's what connecting the chords means.

Later stages

Stage 6 · Play the shapes: play each shape on your guitar while the app listens. Found a chord on your guitar? What chord is this? names it.

Stage 7 · Play whole songs: real songs in any key, chord by chord, on your guitar while the app listens.

Optional extra: the Nashville Numbering System, for reading and writing number charts.