Chords

Chord Explore

Tap string and fret positions, and GTK names the chord.

Guitar
Ukulele
Banjo
Bass

Chord Explore on guitar. A table lists the notes placed on strings 1 to 5: F♯ at fret 2, D at fret 3, A at fret 2, and open D and A. The sixth string is muted, with a red X. The name D is shown large, with D/A at 100% and AP4 at 67% as alternatives.

Tap the fretboard: GTK names the shape you are holding, D, with D/A as an alternative.

Chord Explore on guitar with all six strings set: F♯, D, A and E fretted, plus open A and open E. The table gives each string's fret, note and degree. The name Dadd9 has a green tick, with Dadd9/E at 100% and Asus4/E at 75% as alternatives.

All six strings in play: Dadd9, with Dadd9/E as a 100% alternative.

Chord Explore on guitar with F♯, D, B and G placed on the top four strings. The A and E strings are empty and show dashes in the table. The name GMaj7 has a green tick, with Bm/G at 75% and D13(no5)/G at 67% as alternatives.

Four notes make GMaj7: strings with no note show dashes in the table.

Chord Explore on ukulele in GCEA tuning. A table lists the notes placed on strings 1 to 3: A open on the A string, F♯ at fret 2 on the E string and D at fret 2 on the C string. The fourth (G) string is muted, with a red X, and struck through in the table. The name D is shown large, with AP4/D and F♯m3/D at 67% as alternatives.

Tap the fretboard: GTK names the shape you are holding, D, with the G string muted.

Chord Explore on ukulele with all four strings set: D at fret 5 on the A string, F♯ at fret 2 on E, E at fret 4 on C and A at fret 2 on G. The fretboard is shown from fret 1 to 7. The name Dadd9 has a green tick, with Dadd9/E at 100% and Asus4/E at 75% as alternatives.

All four strings in play: Dadd9, with Dadd9/E as a 100% alternative.

Chord Explore on ukulele with D at fret 5 on the A string, G at fret 3 on E, F♯ at fret 6 on C and B at fret 4 on G. The fretboard is shown from fret 1 to 7. The name GMaj7 has a green tick, with GMaj7/F♯ at 100% and Bm/F♯ at 75% as alternatives.

Four notes make GMaj7, higher up the neck on the same four strings.

Chord Explore on banjo in Open G. A table lists the notes placed on the D, B and G strings: F♯ at fret 4, D at fret 3 and A at fret 2. The fourth string (D) is muted, with a red X, and struck through in the table; the short fifth g string is empty and shows dashes. The name D is shown large, with D/A at 100% and AP4 at 67% as alternatives.

Tap the fretboard: GTK names the shape you are holding, D, with the fourth string muted.

Chord Explore on banjo in Open G with four strings set: F♯ at fret 4, D at fret 3, A at fret 2 and E at fret 2 on the fourth string. The short g string shows dashes. The name Dadd9 has a green tick, with Dadd9/E at 100% and Asus4/E at 75% as alternatives.

Four strings in play: Dadd9, with the short g string left empty.

Chord Explore on banjo in Open G with F♯ at fret 4, D at fret 3, B at fret 4 and G at fret 5 on the four long strings. The short g string shows dashes. The name GMaj7 has a green tick, with Bm/G at 75% and D13(no5)/G at 67% as alternatives.

Four notes make GMaj7: the g string shows dashes because no note is placed on it.

Chord Explore on bass with C, E and A♯ placed on the A, D and G strings at frets 3, 2 and 3; the E string is empty and shows dashes in the table. The name C7 is shown at 75% with ETT/C at 67% and A♯m9♭5/C at 60% as alternatives.

Tap the fretboard: three notes give C7, but only at 75%.

Chord Explore on bass after adding a G at fret 3 on the E string to the C, E and A♯. The table gives each string's fret, note and degree. The name C7 now has a green tick, with C7/G at 100% and Edim/G at 75% as alternatives.

Add the G on the low string: C7 is now a 100% match.

Chord Explore on bass with the G string muted, shown as a red X, leaving G, C and E on the E, A and D strings. The table shows dashes for the G string. The name C has a green tick, with C/G at 100% and GP4 at 67% as alternatives.

Mute the G string and the A♯ goes: the chord becomes C.

The Explore tab in Chord Master answers the question “What is this shape I’m holding?”

Use the instrument tabs above the screenshots to see Explore 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.

Tap the fretboard

Tap a fret on any string to place a note there, and GTK names the chord you’ve made. The tab shows your active tuning and your instrument’s real fret count, so what you tap matches what you’re holding.

At the left end of each string is a green ring. Tap it to mute the string, which turns it into a red X, and tap again to unmute it.

The string table

Above the name, a table lists what you’ve placed, one row per string:

#: the string number, starting with 1 for the highest string.
String: the string’s open note.
Fret: the fret you’ve tapped. 0 is an open string.
Note: the note that sounds.
Degree: the note’s place in the chord, with 1 as the root. In the Dadd9 example, D is 1, E is 2, F♯ is 3 and A is 5.

A string with nothing on it shows dashes and is ignored when GTK names the chord, so the result is based only on the strings you’ve set. It’s good practice to mark each string you don’t play as muted, or to fill it in with the blue + button, so the chord shown matches what you’re holding. A muted string is greyed out.

The name and its alternatives

The chord name appears in large type. Beside it, Alternatives lists theoretically close chords, and the percentage beside each shows how close. A green tick means the name is a full match. Tap an alternative to make it the current chord.

The root of the chord is always red on the fretboard.

The buttons

Above the fretboard:

Blue + button: fills in the open strings you haven’t placed a note on, or clears them again. Strings you’ve left empty show dashes in the table, as in the GMaj7 screenshot.
Green play: hear the chord.
Orange up/down arrows: hear the chord arpeggiated, string by string, using your arpeggiation choices in Settings.
Red x: clears the fretboard so you can start again.

Slash chords

Chords such as D/A or Am/C are recognised. The bass note is identified by the lowest pitch, not the lowest string – which matters on re-entrant ukulele and 5-string banjo tunings.

To make a chord of your own and keep it, see Chord Build.