Chord Lab
Open Chord Lab →
What it’s for
Chord Lab shows you how to play any chord, in every useful shape across the neck. Pick a root and a chord type, and it draws every voicing with fingerings, plays it back, and lets you save it, download it or send it to another app.
Who it’s for
Every level. Beginners start with the open-string and barre chords at the top of the page, and anyone who knows the chord they want can type it into Find a chord. Close and open triads, on every string set, are there for everyone in the voicing browser, and more experienced players use it for close 7ths, drop 2, drop 3 and shell voicings too.
Free and Pro
Free Free, for everyone, including visitors who aren’t signed in:
- Find a chord, and the whole Open-string and barre chords section
- Close triads and open triads in the voicing browser, on every string set, with fingerings
- The Progression Builder: building and playback
- Chord Creator
- Two Challenge sets: Triad Qualities and Name That Triad
With a free account you can also save 3 shapes in Chord Creator and send chords to your Sketchpad.
Pro Pro:
- Every chord type across drop 2, drop 3, drop 2+4, close 7th and shell voicings
- PNG and PDF downloads of any chord
- Sending chords to Progression Lab, from the Progression Builder or a card’s detail panel
- As many saved shapes as you like
- Every Challenge set
- The Voicing Families pathway
A badge beside the Chord Lab title shows which plan you’re on: FREE or PRO. Where a feature is Pro, free members see it marked with ↑; clicking it shows what Pro includes.
Getting around
Chord Lab has two modes. Switch between them with Browse and Challenge, beside the Chord Lab title.
In Browse, from the top of the page down:
- The pathway strip offers five guided walkthroughs of what Chord Lab can do.
- Find a chord sits above everything else: type a chord name to see every place Chord Lab carries it.
- Open-string and barre chords is the first section. Hide folds it away when you don’t need it.
- The selector bar sets the root, the chord type and the voicing. Below it, the chord’s name, intervals and notes are shown in large type.
- The Progression Builder sits under the chord name.
- The voicing grid shows every voicing, in rows by string set.
- On wider screens, a Chord controls panel beside the grid holds the same controls as the selector bar, so you can change chord without scrolling back to the top.
- Chord Creator sits at the foot of the page.
Features
Find a chord
Free
Know the chord you want but not where Chord Lab keeps it? Type its name in the Find a chord bar at the top of Browse, and Chord Lab shows you every place it carries that chord, from open shapes to drop 2+4, in one row.
- Start typing. Suggestions drop down as you type, only for chords Chord Lab has at that root. Each names the chord type and the voicing families it appears in, with PRO beside the Pro families.
- Finish it fast. The rest of the top suggestion appears in grey. Press Tab or → to accept it, or click any suggestion.
- Write it your way. Cmaj7, CM7, Am7, E♭-7, A°, Dsus all work. Type b and # and they become ♭ and ♯.
- Pick a family. A row of chips shows where the chord lives: Open-string, Barre, Close triads, Open triads, Close 7ths, Shells, Drop 2, Drop 3, Drop 2+4. Click one and Chord Lab jumps straight there, with the open or barre card ringed in red, or the selector bar set to that voicing. Enter jumps to the first chip.
- Look up the next one. The box clears after a jump, ready for your next chord, and the chips stay until you close them with ×.
Pro The Close 7ths, Shells, Drop 2, Drop 3 and Drop 2+4 chips open with Pro. On a free account they carry the PRO tag, and clicking one shows what Pro adds for that chord.
If Chord Lab doesn’t carry a chord, such as Em7♭5, the bar says so. For chords beyond Chord Lab’s sets, try Chord Architect.
Open-string and barre chords
Free
The chords most players learn first.
- Open-string chords tab. Choose a chord type from the menu; each type shows how many shapes it has, for example Major (6). Shapes that can move up the neck have a ◀ Open ▶ stepper, so you can slide them a fret at a time. Stepping up names the chord with sharps; stepping down, with flats.
- Barre chords tab. Choose a root with this tab’s own root buttons, and a chord type. The barre shapes for that chord appear in order up the neck to the 12th fret, each named by its CAGED shape and fret, for example A-shape, fret 3.
The root of every chord is marked with a red ring, on fretted notes and open strings alike.
Each card has:
- ▶ to play the chord
- Pro PNG and PDF to download it (see Downloading a chord below)
- Sketch, which adds the chord to your Sketchpad
- + Builder, which adds it to the Progression Builder
- Edit, which opens the exact shape in Chord Creator so you can change it
Click a diagram to open its detail panel.
Voicing browser
Free Close and open triads Pro Every other chord type
Choose a root, a chord type and a voicing: close triads, open triads, close 7ths, shells, drop 2, drop 3 or drop 2+4. Chord Lab draws every inversion on every string set where the voicing works, one row per string set.
Close and open triads. A close triad keeps its root, 3rd and 5th inside one octave, on three neighbouring strings. An open triad takes the middle note of a close triad up an octave, so the chord spreads over more than an octave with a string skipped: the sound of a string section or a piano spread across the keyboard. Open triads come in three orders, written from the bass up: R-5-3, 3-R-5 and 5-3-R, on eight string sets: 6-4-2, 5-3-1, 6-4-3, 5-3-2, 4-2-1, 6-5-3, 5-4-2 and 4-3-1. Both are free.
Every card says what you’re looking at under the chord name. Close · Strings 4-3-2 is a close triad on strings 4, 3 and 2. Open · 3-R-5 · Strings 5-3-2 is an open triad with the 3rd in the bass, the root in the middle and the 5th on top, on strings 5, 3 and 2. String sets are always named from the bass string up, the way you’d say them, and the fingering is shown above every diagram.
- Root. The ♭ ♯ switch beside it sets whether black-key roots are spelled with flats or sharps.
- Chord type. The choices depend on the voicing: close and open triads offer major, minor, diminished and augmented; seventh-chord voicings offer major 7, minor 7 and dominant 7.
- Strings. Show only the string sets you want. Each button names its strings from the bass up: 3-2-1, 4-3-2, 5-4-3 and 6-5-4 for close triads; 6-4-2, 5-3-1, 6-4-3, 5-3-2, 4-2-1, 6-5-3, 5-4-2 and 4-3-1 for open triads; 4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2 and 6-5-4-3 for drop 2. The buttons always match the rows on screen, so a row you’ve changed with Change row gets its own button. The count above the grid tells you how many voicings are showing.
Inversions are labelled by the note in the bass: Root, 1st Inv, 2nd Inv and 3rd Inv.
Related: triads, close triads, open triads, close position, drop 2, drop 3, drop 2+4, shell voicings, inversions, string sets
Chord cards
Each diagram in the voicing grid is a card, with the fingering along the top, the diagram, and the chord in notation and TAB. The root is marked with a red ring, so you can find it at a glance.
Four menus let you change the card on its own: root, chord type, voicing and inversion.
Below them, the buttons run in three rows:
- ▶ plays the chord. Pro PNG and PDF download it.
- ♭ ♯ switches the note spelling between flats and sharps. Build Key opens the chord’s key in the Diatonic Key Builder. Sketch adds the chord to your Sketchpad.
- + Builder adds the chord to the Progression Builder. Share opens the sharing options (see below).
The detail panel. Click the diagram itself and a panel opens at the side of the page with the chord larger: its voicing family, name and position, the diagram with notation and TAB, and four buttons:
- Play sounds the chord.
- Pro + Progression adds the chord to Progression Lab, ready for the next time you open it, and tells you how many chords are waiting there. On a free account it shows “Progression Lab is a Pro feature”.
- Sketch adds the chord to your Sketchpad. You need to be signed in.
- Pro PDF downloads it.
Sharing a chord. Share offers:
- Copy Link: a link that opens Chord Lab on that exact voicing
- Facebook, X and WhatsApp
- Save for Instagram: downloads the chord as a picture, ready to post
Downloading a chord
Pro
Every chord card has PNG and PDF buttons. Both give you a finished, branded sheet for that one chord:
- PNG is a dark picture, 1080 × 1350, made for screens and for sharing on social media.
- PDF is a white A4 page, made for printing, with the GMI links clickable.
Each shows:
- the chord name, its position or voicing, and the strings it uses
- the full diagram with fingering, notation and TAB
- the chord tones in this shape, each with its note name, the root marked in red
- string by string, low to high: which note and which degree each string plays
The notes are spelled from the chord, so E♭7 reads E♭ G B♭ D♭, and degrees are named by what they do: ♭3 or ♯9, ♭5 or ♯11, 6 or ♭♭7.
Quick Change
Change chords without going back to the top of the page.
- The Chord controls panel. On wider screens, this panel beside the grid holds the root, chord type and voicing controls. Its ↕ Follows button lets it move with you as you scroll; click it to switch to 📌 Locked and hold the panel in place.
- Change row. Above each string-set row is a Change row bar: its own root, chord type, voicing, strings and inversion menus, and its own ♭ ♯ switch. Changing them redraws that row only, and its heading turns red so you can see it differs from the chord at the top. Reset puts the row back to the selected chord. The Strings menu moves the row to any string set its voicing has, so one row can show open triads on 6-4-2 while the rest of the page shows close triads.
- Card menus. Each card’s own menus redraw just that card.
This makes it easy to compare, for example, a Cmaj7 and a C7 side by side on the same string set.
Progression Builder
Free Building and playback Pro Sending to Progression Lab
Put chords in order, see every shape on the neck and hear them as a progression. The Builder holds up to eight bars, four to a line. Hide folds its explanation panel away.
- Add a chord. Press + Builder on any card, and the chord drops into the next free beat and sounds. + Add the chord on screen does the same for the chord you’re looking at. Or tap an empty beat and choose from the list: Open-string and barre comes first, with every open and barre grip for that root, and the one you pick drops in exactly as shown. Choose from the rest of the list and the Builder picks a shape near the chord before it.
- See every shape. Each filled beat has its chord diagram above it, with the chord’s name and inversion, so you can see the whole progression on the neck at once. Hover over a diagram to read its frets, for example x32000. When you tap a chord or press Play, the beat and its diagram light up together, so you can follow the shapes as they sound.
- Put a chord on a particular beat. Tap the beat, press ◎ Aim here, then click the chord diagram you want. It lands on that beat, replacing whatever was there.
- Change or clear a beat. The ⋯ in a chord’s top-left corner changes it; the × in its top-right clears that beat and nothing else. Tap a chord to hear it on its own.
- Bars. + Bar adds a bar. Under each bar, clear all empties it and remove takes it out. Clear all at the bottom empties the whole progression.
- Play it. Choose 4/4 or 3/4, set the tempo in BPM, and press ▶ Play.
Your progression is saved as you go, so you can move round the app and come back to it.
Pro Send to Progression Lab and every chord arrives exactly as you built it: same frets, same strings. Change a voice-leading setting there and Progression Lab will re-voice the progression for you.
Chord Creator
Free 3 saved shapes Pro Unlimited
A fretboard where you build your own shapes.
- Tap a fret to add a note. Tap it again to remove it. Each dot shows its fret number.
- Double-tap a note to make it the root. The root is marked with a red ring.
- Note names shows the note names on the dots instead of fret numbers.
- What is this? names the chord you’ve built.
- ▶ Play sounds it, and Arpeggiate plays the notes one at a time.
- → Sketchpad sends the shape to your Sketchpad.
- Clear and Undo do what they say.
Saving your shapes. Save keeps the shape you’ve built in your library. Load lists your saved shapes, with a search box; pick one and it comes straight back onto the fretboard.
Free accounts keep 3 saved shapes in Chord Lab; Pro and Founding Members keep as many as they like. When a free account has used all three, Chord Lab offers a choice: replace one of your existing saves, or upgrade.
Every saved shape also appears in My Library, where Open brings it back into Chord Creator, and you can rename or delete it.
Challenge mode
Free Two sets Pro All five
Test your chord knowledge in sessions of ten questions. There are two kinds of set.
Ear Training: hear a chord and name its quality.
- Triad Qualities Free: major, minor, diminished and augmented triads
- Seventh Chord Qualities Pro: maj 7, dom 7, min 7 and m7♭5
- Shell Voicing Qualities Pro: maj 7, dom 7, min 7 and maj 6 shells
Visual Recognition: see a shape and name the chord.
- Name That Triad Free
- Name That Seventh Chord Pro
While you play, the top bar shows your score, accuracy and streak for the session. You can leave at any time with ✕ Exit session or the Esc key; an unfinished session is saved to your history but doesn’t count towards your overall accuracy.
At the end of a session your scorecard shows your score out of ten, your accuracy, a dot for each answer, your best streak and any new badges. From there: Play Again, Scores, or ← Sets to choose another set.
Scores shows your progress across every session:
- your totals: questions answered, accuracy and best streak
- your accuracy on each set
- your badges, earned and still to earn
- Session history: every session, with its date, set and score
Reset scores clears your totals and the accuracy for each set, for a fresh start. Your badges and your session history are kept.
Pathways
The coloured strip at the top of Chord Lab offers guided walkthroughs:
- Test yourself
- Progression Builder
- The GMI Matrix
- Voicing Families Pro
- Chord Lookup
Each walks you through one part of Chord Lab step by step.
Left-handed diagrams
Left-handed players can mirror every chord diagram and neck view. Open ⚙ Preferences › Display › Accessibility and switch on Left-handed diagrams.
- Diagrams are mirrored exactly: the low E string moves to the right, and fret numbers sit on the right-hand side. On horizontal necks, such as Chord Creator’s, the nut moves to the right.
- Fingerings read in the mirrored order, and the root keeps its red ring.
- Notation and TAB stay as written, because they don’t depend on which hand you play with.
- The setting applies across the GMI apps. If you’re signed in it follows you to any device; if not, it’s kept in this browser.
- PNG and PDF downloads follow your setting. A shared link opens in the setting of whoever opens it.
Works with
Chord Lab sends to:
- Sketchpad, with the Sketch button or Chord Creator’s → Sketchpad
- Diatonic Key Builder, with the Build Key button
- Progression Lab, from the Progression Builder or + Progression in a card’s detail panel Pro
Chord Lab receives chords from:
- Diatonic Key Builder: the Chord Lab button on a chord card
- Progression Lab: → Chord Lab on a chord in the lane
Chord Lab opens on that chord, scrolls down to the exact voicing you sent and outlines it in red. The button appears on major 7, minor 7 and dominant 7 chords, which are the ones Chord Lab shows in every voicing.
Related concepts
From the Theory Glossary: Triads · Close triads · Open triads · Close position · Drop 2 · Drop 3 · Drop 2+4 · Shell voicings · Inversions · String sets · Voice leading · CAGED system
