Chords

Chord Build

Create your own chord: place fingers, mark strings open or muted, and let GTK detect the name.

Guitar
Ukulele
Banjo
Bass

Chord Build on guitar with the notes C, E and G switched on in red, green and blue. The name C is shown large, with Em3 and GP4 listed as alternatives at 67%. The fretboard shows every C, E and G from the open strings to fret 6.

Select C, E and G: GTK names the chord C and marks every one of those notes on the neck.

Chord Build on guitar with B added in pink to C, E and G. The name changes to CMaj7, with Em at 75% and G13(no5) at 67% as alternatives, and the B notes now appear on the fretboard.

Add the B (the 7): the name changes to CMaj7.

Chord Build on guitar after tapping the Em3 alternative. E is now red and labelled 1, G is light green and labelled ♭3, and C is dark blue and labelled ♭6. The name Em3 is shown large, with C at 100% and GP4 at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard in the same colours.

Tap the Em3 alternative: E becomes the root, so it turns red and the intervals count from E.

A sheet titled Chord Library, Select a chord template to load, with Root, Category and Chord pickers set to D, 7th and Dmaj7, and a Load Dmaj7 button.

Load Template: pick a root, category and chord, then load it as a starting point.

Chord Build on guitar after loading Dmaj7. D, C♯, F♯ and A are switched on, the interval labels under the buttons now count from D, and the name DMaj7 is shown with F♯m at 75% and A13(no5) at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard.

Dmaj7 loaded: the intervals now count from D, and you can keep editing.

Chord Build on ukulele in GCEA tuning with the notes C, E and G switched on in red, green and blue. The name C is shown large, with Em3 and GP4 listed as alternatives at 67%. The four-string fretboard (A, E, C, G) shows every C, E and G from the open strings to fret 6.

Select C, E and G: GTK names the chord C and marks every one of those notes on the neck.

Chord Build on ukulele with B added in pink to C, E and G. The name changes to CMaj7, with Em at 75% and G13(no5) at 67% as alternatives, and the B notes now appear on the fretboard.

Add the B (the 7): the name changes to CMaj7.

Chord Build on ukulele after tapping the Em3 alternative. E is now red and labelled 1, G is light green and labelled ♭3, and C is dark blue and labelled ♭6. The name Em3 is shown large, with C at 100% and GP4 at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard in the same colours.

Tap the Em3 alternative: E becomes the root, so it turns red and the intervals count from E.

Load Template: pick a root, category and chord, then load it as a starting point.

Chord Build on ukulele after loading Dmaj7. D, C♯, F♯ and A are switched on, the interval labels under the buttons now count from D, and the name DMaj7 is shown with F♯m at 75% and A13(no5) at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard.

Dmaj7 loaded: the intervals now count from D, and you can keep editing.

Chord Build on banjo in Open G with the notes C, E and G switched on in red, green and blue. The name C is shown large, with Em3 and GP4 listed as alternatives at 67%. The five-string fretboard (D, B, G, D and the short g string) shows every C, E and G from the open strings to fret 6.

Select C, E and G: GTK names the chord C and marks every one of those notes on the neck.

Chord Build on banjo with B added in pink to C, E and G. The name changes to CMaj7, with Em at 75% and G13(no5) at 67% as alternatives, and the B notes now appear on the fretboard.

Add the B (the 7): the name changes to CMaj7.

Chord Build on banjo after tapping the Em3 alternative. E is now red and labelled 1, G is light green and labelled ♭3, and C is dark blue and labelled ♭6. The name Em3 is shown large, with C at 100% and GP4 at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard in the same colours.

Tap the Em3 alternative: E becomes the root, so it turns red and the intervals count from E.

Load Template: pick a root, category and chord, then load it as a starting point.

Chord Build on banjo after loading Dmaj7. D, C♯, F♯ and A are switched on, the interval labels under the buttons now count from D, and the name DMaj7 is shown with F♯m at 75% and A13(no5) at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard.

Dmaj7 loaded: the intervals now count from D, and you can keep editing.

Chord Build on bass with the notes C, E and G switched on in red, green and blue. The name C is shown large, with Em3 and GP4 listed as alternatives at 67%. The fretboard shows every C, E and G across the four strings (G, D, A and E) from the open strings to fret 6.

Select C, E and G: GTK names the chord C and marks each of those notes on the neck.

Chord Build on bass with B added in pink to C, E and G. The name changes to CMaj7, with Em at 75% and G13(no5) at 67% as alternatives, and the B notes now appear on the fretboard.

Add the B (the 7): the name changes to CMaj7.

Chord Build on bass after tapping the Em3 alternative. E is now red and labelled 1, G is light green and labelled ♭3, and C is dark blue and labelled ♭6. The name Em3 is shown large, with C at 100% and GP4 at 67% as alternatives.

Tap the Em3 alternative: the same notes, now counted from E.

Load Template: pick a root, category and chord, then load it as a starting point.

Chord Build on bass after loading Dmaj7. D, C♯, F♯ and A are switched on, the interval labels under the buttons now count from D, and the name DMaj7 is shown with F♯m at 75% and A13(no5) at 67% as alternatives. The notes are marked on the fretboard.

Dmaj7 loaded: the intervals now count from D.

The Build tab in Chord Master lets you make a chord of your own and see what it is called.

Use the instrument tabs above the screenshots to see Build on guitar, ukulele, banjo or bass. The fretboard follows the instrument: four strings in GCEA on ukulele, five in Open G on banjo with its short fifth string, and four to six strings on bass.

Choosing the notes

Twelve buttons, one per note, run across the top, always in the order C to B. Each is labelled below with its interval from the chord’s root: 1, ♭2, 2, ♭3 and so on. Tap a note to switch it on. The colours follow the root of the chord you are building: the root is always red, and the labels under the buttons count from it. The same colours appear on the fretboard.

In the first screenshot C, E and G are on, and GTK names the result C. Tap B (the 7) as well and the name changes to CMaj7.

The name and its alternatives

The chord name appears in large type. Beside it, Alternatives lists other chords that fit what you have chosen. They are theoretically close chords, and the percentage beside each shows how close. A green tick means the name is a full match. Tap one to make it the current chord, then carry on building from there. Because the root changes with it, so do the colours and labels. In the third screenshot the Em3 alternative has been tapped, so E becomes the root. The buttons stay in the same order, starting at C, but E turns red and the labels now count from E (E is 1, G is ♭3 and C is ♭6), where C was red before.

On the fretboard

The fretboard shows your notes where they fall on the neck, with your instrument’s tuning and real fret count. Tap the red x to clear all of your selections and start again.

Load a template

Not sure where to start? Tap Load Template, then choose a Root, a Category (such as Triads, 7th or Added) and a Chord (such as Dmaj⁷), and tap Load. The chord is loaded ready for you to change, for example by adding or removing a note. The interval labels under the note buttons then count from the chord’s root, so after loading Dmaj⁷ the D is 1.

Hear it

Tap the green play button to hear your chord. To hear it in a different octave, change the Octave number (2 to 6) and tap play again.

To name a voicing yourself, save it and export it to share, see Custom Chords.

Chord Build

Choosing the notes

The name and its alternatives

On the fretboard

Load a template

Hear it

Keeping and sharing it