Free online tool
Chord Finder and Chord Identifier
Chord finder and identifier: click piano keys, type notes like E G C or enter guitar frets to get the chord name, inversion, spelling, staff and sound.
Type note names separated by spaces (the first one is taken as the lowest note), click the keys, or enter six guitar frets (x = muted).
Try:
Best reading
Notes and intervals from the root
| Note | Degree | Interval |
|---|
On the staff
Other readings of the same notes
Enter at least two notes to see a name. With one note you get the note itself; two notes give an interval or a power chord.
About the Chord Identifier
Chord Identifier is a free chord finder that names a chord from the notes you give it. Click piano keys, type note names such as E G C, or enter guitar frets, and it returns the chord name, its inversion, its spelling, and the chord written on a staff, with a button to hear it. It works as a chord finder, chord namer and chord analyzer for both piano and guitar. It runs in your web browser with no sign-up, and nothing you enter is uploaded. Use it when you hear a chord in a song, or see a set of notes on a page, and want to know what they are called.
How to use the Chord Identifier
- Click up to a dozen keys on the keyboard, or type note names in the Notes box, for example F# A C# E. The first note you type counts as the lowest.
- For a guitar chord, type six fret numbers in the Notes box, from the low E string to the high E string. Use x for a string you do not play, for example x32010.
- Read the best reading at the top. Then check the Note, Degree and Interval labels under Notes and intervals from the root, and the chord shown under On the staff.
- Press ▶ Play chord to hear all the notes together, or ▶ Arpeggio to hear them one at a time.
- Open Other readings to see inversions, enharmonic spellings and rootless interpretations of the same notes.
Use Octave − and Octave + to shift the on-screen keyboard down or up an octave. Clear empties the Notes box so you can start again. The Try: buttons (C E G, E G C, A C E G, G B D F, x32010) fill in an example.
Think about the bass note first. The lowest note decides which reading ranks at the top, so E G C names C/E, while C E G names plain C. The same four notes C E G A can read as C6 or Am7, depending on which note is lowest.
How does a chord finder name a chord?#
A chord name comes from stacking intervals above a root. The identifier tries every note you entered as the root, compares the intervals above it with a table of chord formulas, and ranks the matches.
A few formulas show the idea. A major triad is 1 3 5, so C major is C E G. A minor triad is 1 b3 5, giving C Eb G. A dominant 7th adds a flat seventh to the major triad, 1 3 5 b7, giving C E G Bb.
A reading in which the lowest note is the root comes first. A reading with another note in the bass is written as a slash chord, such as C/E or Am7/G. Readings that leave out the fifth, or that imply a root you did not play, come last.
Why does E G C come out as C/E?#
E, G and C make a C major triad. Because E is the lowest note, the chord is in first inversion, and the slash chord C/E means C major with E in the bass.
The same rule applies to the other chord tones. When the third, fifth or seventh is the lowest note, the chord is in first, second or third inversion. The diminished 7th and the augmented triad are symmetrical, so every note in them can serve as the root. In those cases the lowest note is ranked first.
Why do C E G A show up as both C6 and Am7?#
Both chords contain exactly the same four notes, so the notes alone cannot decide the name. The lowest note decides which reading comes first: with C at the bottom the page ranks C6 first, and with A at the bottom it ranks Am7 first. Only the bass changes the name.
In real music, the key and the bass line usually settle it. If the song points to the other answer, use the Other readings list.
What does it mean when the two methods disagree?#
Each result is calculated twice: once from the page’s own table of interval patterns, and once with the open-source tonal.js library. If tonal.js ranks another chord first, or has no name for the notes, the page says so and lists both readings.
The full dominant 11th, C E G Bb D F, is one case. tonal.js reads those six notes as other chords. When the two methods differ, compare the names listed and choose the one that fits the music around the chord.
Why is a two-note input not given a chord name?#
A chord needs at least three different notes, apart from the power chord, which is a root and fifth written as C5. Two other notes form an interval. For example, C and E give a major third, so the page names the interval and suggests adding a third note.
Does C# or Db matter for the chord name?#
They sound the same on a piano, but the correct spelling depends on the chord. The page spells each chord tone with one letter per chord degree, so a C# minor triad is C# E G#, never Db E Ab. If you type your own spelling for the root, the page keeps it.