Guitar Chord Finder
Press the notes you are holding on the fretboard and see which chord they make - including the inversion, the notes you left out, and the other names the same grip can go by.
Or pick a chord
Choose a root and a chord type and the tool searches your tuning for grips that play it. Tap one to put it on the board.
C
Playable shapes
Your grip
Tap a fret to add a note. Each string holds one note at a time - tap it again to take it off.
Nothing selected yet
Pick at least two notes on the board. Two are enough for a power chord; three or four give the tool something to name properly.
What a chord finder does
A chord finder works backwards from the way most chord tools work. Instead of looking up a shape for a name you already know, you enter the shape your fingers are already holding and the tool tells you what it is called. That is the situation most guitarists are actually in: you found something that sounds good, you can play it, and you have no idea how to write it down or tell anyone else about it.
How the tool works out the name
Every note you press is reduced to its pitch class - the note letter, with the octave thrown away - and the tool measures that set against every chord type it knows, rooted on all twelve notes. Each reading is scored: a missing third or seventh costs a lot, a missing perfect fifth costs almost nothing, and a note the chord cannot account for costs more than any omission. The lowest note you are playing breaks ties, which is what separates C from C/E. What you get back is a ranked list, not a single verdict.
Inversions and slash chords
A chord is in root position when its root is the lowest note. Move any other chord tone to the bottom and you have an inversion: C E G is C, but E G C is C/E, the first inversion. Guitarists meet these constantly without naming them, because the shape you can reach in a given position often puts the third or the fifth on the low string. When the bass note is not part of the chord at all - a D underneath a C major triad - it is still written with a slash, but it is not an inversion; it is a chord over a foreign bass.
Why the same notes can have several names
Chord names describe function, and the same three or four notes can function in more than one way. C, F and G are Csus4 if the C is the root and Fsus2 if the F is. B, D, F and A are Bm7b5 or Dm6, depending on which note the music treats as home. A tool that hides this is lying to you: it picks one name and presents it as the answer. This one shows the best fit for the bass note you played and lists the equally valid alternatives underneath, so you can decide which one matches the music you are playing.
From a chord to something to practise
Naming the chord is the first step. Once you know what you are holding, the improviser takes the same chord and shows you which scales fit over it, which notes are its chord tones, which ones to aim for when it changes, and how it connects to the chord that follows. Use the button above the result to carry the chord straight across.
Frequently asked questions
- How many notes do I need to select?
- At least two. Two notes name a power chord or an interval; three give you a triad; four or more let the tool distinguish sevenths, sixths and added-note chords with confidence.
- Can I go the other way and look up a chord I know by name?
- Yes. Pick a root and a chord type in the selector above the board and the tool searches your tuning - behind your capo - for grips that actually play that chord: no note that does not belong, no shape wider than a hand or needing more than four fingers. Tap one and it lands on the board, where you can change it note by note.
- Why does it say notes are missing?
- A guitar has six strings and this tool allows one note per string, so larger chords cannot be selected in full. That is normal - guitarists drop notes all the time, usually the fifth. The tool names the chord anyway and tells you which tones are implied but not sounding.
- Does it handle alternate tunings and a capo?
- Yes. Pick your tuning from the list and set the capo fret, and every position is recalculated. A capo behaves as the new nut, so a string pressed below it sounds the capo fret.
- Why does it give me more than one chord name?
- Because more than one is often correct. The same notes can belong to different chords depending on which one the music treats as the root. The first reading is the best fit for your bass note; the others are listed so you can pick the one that matches the context.
- Is it free?
- Yes, and there is no sign-up. The chord finder and the improviser are free tools - you only need an account if you want to save progressions to come back to.