How to read a chord diagram
Every chord page on this site follows the same layout. Here's what each part means, using G7 as a working example.
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1
The brass key is the root
Whatever key is highlighted in brass gold is the root note, the note the chord is named after. In G7 that's G. Every other key you need to press is highlighted in wine red.
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2
The staff next to it shows the same chord in notation
A treble clef staff, in 4/4 time, with the chord's notes stacked the way they'd actually be written, ledger lines and all, closed off with a final barline like a complete little excerpt. Sharps and flats appear just to the left of the notehead they belong to, same as on printed sheet music.
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3
The formula shows scale degrees, not notes
Above the diagrams you'll see a row of numbers like 1, 3, 5, b7. These are scale degrees measured from the root, not the actual note names. A "b7" means a minor seventh above the root, wherever that root happens to be. The formula stays the same for a chord in every key, only the notes it points to change.
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4
Sharps and flats
Roots on a black key are written with a sharp (C#, D#, F#, G#, A#) throughout the site, with the flat spelling noted underneath since C# and Db are the same key. Individual chord tones are spelled correctly for that chord even when it means an unusual letter like Fb or E#, since that's how the chord is actually built. On the rare chord where strict spelling would need a double sharp or double flat, the site falls back to the simpler, more common name instead.
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5
Play it back
"Play chord" plays every note at once, the way you'd strike the chord with one hand. "Play arpeggiated" plays the same notes one after another so you can pick out each pitch individually. You can also click any single key on the diagram to hear just that note.
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Inversions and open voicings
Below the main diagram, a row of smaller diagrams shows the same chord with a different note in the bass, root position first. Chords with four or more notes also get an "open voicings" row with drop 2 and drop 3 voicings, the way jazz players spread a close-position chord out for a fuller sound. Every small diagram has its own play button.
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7
Save a chord or download it
The star button next to the chord name saves it to your favorites, stored in your browser only. "Download MIDI" gives you a small .mid file of the chord you can drop into any DAW or notation program.
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8
Related chords
Most pages link to a handful of related chords: the same root in a different quality, the relative minor or major, and a couple of neighbors worth comparing by ear.
A quick note on how the notes are calculated
Rather than looking up each chord individually, this site derives every chord from its interval formula using standard letter-based spelling rules, the same approach used in printed music theory references. That keeps the notes consistent across all twelve keys and avoids the small inconsistencies that show up when hundreds of chords are entered by hand.