Chord Architect Guide

Chord Architect

Open Chord Architect →

What it’s for

Chord Architect is the place for the chords beyond Chord Lab: sixths and add9s, ninths, elevenths and thirteenths, altered dominants, suspended chords, half-diminished and diminished. Pick a root and a chord type, and it shows what the chord is built from and every voicing it has for it, each with fingering, notation, TAB and sound.

Who it’s for

Players who already know their basic seventh chords and want to go further, whatever the style. If you are newer to chords, start in Chord Lab and come here when you want more colour or more tension.

Free and Pro

Free Free: ten chord types, with every voicing, the Harmony panel playback and sharing:

• Major 6, Major Add9, Major 7
• Dominant 7
• Sus2, Sus4, 7 Sus4
• Minor 6, Minor Add9, Minor 7

You don’t need to sign in to use these. With a free account you can also save three selections.

Pro Pro:

• Every other chord type in the list
• Sending a voicing to Sketchpad
• PNG and PDF downloads of any voicing
• Unlimited saves

Every row in the chord list carries a badge, free or PRO, so you can always see which is which. Pro members also see a PRO badge at the top right of the app.

The send buttons appear for everyone, but Progression Lab, Structure Lab and Key Builder are Pro apps. On a free account, sending a chord there opens that app’s “A Pro feature” page with an Upgrade to Pro button, and Sketchpad shows “Upgrade to Pro to send to Sketchpad”.

Compare Free and Pro

Getting around

From the top of the page down:

• The GMI app dock links to every other app.
• The pathway strip offers four guided walkthroughs.
• Three panels sit side by side: Builder on the left, where you choose the chord; Harmony in the middle, which explains it; and Pick a diagram on the right, which shows every voicing.
• The chord panel slides in from the right when you click a diagram. It shows that voicing large, and holds the buttons that play, save and send it.

Chord Architect remembers the chord, filters and voicing you were last on, so it reopens where you left it on the same device. Until you choose something, it opens on C Major 7, Drop 2, strings 1–4.

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Features

The pathway strip

Four coloured segments, each a short guided tour:

1. Where Chord Lab stops: what Chord Architect adds, and how the chord list is organised.
2. Extensions: 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, and why big chords leave notes out.
3. Alterations: ♭9, ♯9, ♭5 and ♯5, synonyms, and the diminished chord as a template.
4. Chord Connections: sending what you find to other apps.

Click a segment to open its panel, then Start to be walked through the app step by step. Pro members can fold the strip away with Hide; the slim Chord Architect pathways bar that replaces it brings it back with Show. On a free account the strip stays open.

Builder: choosing the chord

Root. Twelve buttons, C to B. The root decides where on the neck the shapes sit, not which shapes exist: every voicing here is movable.

Family tabs. Five tabs sort the chord list. Choosing a tab changes the list only; the chord on screen stays until you pick a new one.

• Major: Major 6, Major Add9, Major 6/9, Major 7, Major 7 b5, Major 7 #5, Major 7 #11, Major 9, Major 9 #11, Major 13, Major 13 #11
• Dom 7: Dominant 7, 9, 11 and 13; then 7♭5, 7♯5, 7♭9, 7♯9, the paired alterations (7♭5♭9, 7♭5♯9, 7♯5♭9, 7♯5♯9), 9♭5, 9♯5, 11♭9, 13♭5, 13♯5, 13♭9 and 13♯9
• Minor: Minor 6, Minor Add9, Minor 6/9, Minor 7, Minor-Major 7, Minor 9, Minor-Major 9, Minor 11, Minor 13
• Sus: Sus2, Sus4, 7 Sus4, 7 Sus4 b9, 13 Sus4
• ø / dim: Half-Diminished, Min11 b5, Diminished 7

Hover over a tab’s name (or tap it on a phone or tablet) for a short definition from the Theory Glossary.

Chord list. Click a chord type to load it. On a free account the Pro rows are dimmed and can’t be chosen, and a box at the foot of the panel reads “Upgrade to Pro to unlock all chord types”.

The ? beside “Builder” opens the help panel on the right, at its Guide tab, with “Select a chord family” highlighted.

Harmony: what the chord is made of

From the top:

• The chord name in large type, with a one-line note under it for some types (for example, the scale it comes from, or “Alias of Maj7#11” on Major 7 b5).
• The interval boxes: every tone in the chord. The root is red, the guide tones (3rd and 7th) are blue, extensions and alterations are amber, and the 5th is grey.
• The note names in this key, spelled to match the chord (the ♯9 of C7♯9 is D♯, not E♭).
• A description of the chord’s sound and use, for the main types.
• For chords of five or more tones, a note explaining why most voicings are partial: six strings and four fingers can’t hold every tone, so some are left out and supplied by the bass, the band or the ear. It names the tones the outlined voicing leaves out, and changes when you click another card.
• For some chords, a family box:
  • Synonyms (9, half-diminished, minor 6 and 7♯5♭9): the same four notes named from different roots. This is the Protean chord idea: one shape, four chords, depending on the bass note.
  • Diminished family (Diminished 7, 7♭9, 13♭9): one voicing, four roots, a minor 3rd apart.
  • Whole-tone family (7♭5, 7♯5, 9♭5, 9♯5): the whole-tone scale the chord belongs to.
  • Augmented family (Major 7 #5, 7♯5, 9♯5): the three roots that share one augmented triad.
• Buttons at the foot of the panel (see Works with): Upper structures →, + Progression and Build Key →.

Pick a diagram: every voicing

Each card shows:

• String set and position at the top left, for example “str 1–5 · pos 2”.
• The name, with the inversion: Root, 1st Inv, 2nd Inv, 3rd Inv. Where the lowest note is an extension or alteration rather than the root, 3rd, 5th or 7th, the card names it instead, for example “C7b9 ♭9 in bass”.
• The fingering, string by string from the 6th: a number is the finger, x is a string not played, o an open string.
• The diagram, with fret numbers down the side. The root is a red ring. A hollow red ring marks where the root would be when the voicing leaves it out, so you can see the chord’s home even when you don’t play it.

One card is always outlined: the first one under your filters, or the one you last clicked. The Harmony panel and its buttons work on that card. Click any card to select it and open it in the chord panel.

Filters. Two drop-downs above the grid narrow what you see, each showing how many voicings it holds:

• Voicing type: All, or a type such as Drop 2, Drop 3, Drop 2+4, Shell, Close, Quartal, Staple, Rootless or Inferred. Only the types this chord has are offered; Shell appears only for Major 7, Minor 7, Dominant 7, Major 6 and Minor 6.
• Strings: All strings, or one string set (for example “Str 1-4”). Changing the voicing type resets this to All strings.

A key at the foot of the grid shows the colours: red for Root, blue for Guide tones.

Load opens your saved selections. The dot beside it shows whether your current place is Saved or has Unsaved changes: Chord Architect saves your place automatically, separately from the named saves you make yourself, and the dot returns to Saved a moment after each change. Load and the dot appear when you’re signed in.

The chord panel

Click a diagram and the chord panel slides in from the right. It shows:

• the chord name, string set and position;
• the voicing name with its inversion, and the fingering;
• a large diagram, with standard notation and TAB below it;
• the chord’s interval boxes.

Then the buttons:

• Play sounds the voicing.
• Save saves this exact voicing to your library under a name you choose (signed-in members).
• + Progression sends it to Progression Lab.
• → Structure Lab sends the chord to Structure Lab. Shown only for chord types Structure Lab covers.
• → Build Key sends it to Key Builder. Shown only for voicings on four strings or fewer.
• Sketchpad adds the diagram to Sketchpad (Pro). If it’s already there, you’re told so rather than getting it twice.
• PNG downloads the voicing as an image for screens (Pro).
• PDF downloads it as a white page for printing (Pro). Both show the chord’s name, position, diagram, notation and TAB.
• Share copies a link that opens Chord Architect on this exact voicing, or posts it to Facebook, X or WhatsApp. Save for Instagram saves an image ready to upload.

Close the panel with ×, by clicking outside it, or with Esc.

Saving and loading

• Save (in the chord panel) opens Save to your library. It suggests a name from the chord (for example “C7”); change it if you like, add tags separated by commas if you want them, and click Save. The save keeps the chord, the voicing and your filters.
• Load (above the grid) lists your saves; choose one to reopen it on that exact voicing.
• Saves also appear in My Library, under Voicing selections, with Open, Rename and Delete. Open brings you back to Chord Architect on that exact voicing.
• If you were last working on another device, a note above the grid says so (for example “You left the Architect on CMaj6 on another device.”). Restore it takes you there; Start fresh dismisses it.

Free accounts keep three saves per app; Pro and Founding Members keep as many as they like. When a free account has used its three, Save shows You have used your free saves for this app, with Not now, Replace an existing save and Upgrade to Pro.

You need to be signed in to save. Visitors who aren’t signed in don’t see Save or Load.

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Works with

Sends to:

• Progression Lab: + Progression (in the Harmony panel and the chord panel). The exact voicing arrives, frets, strings and inversion as you chose them. Progression Lab then asks whether to replace the lane or add the chord to the end.
• Structure Lab: Upper structures → (Harmony panel) or → Structure Lab (chord panel). Structure Lab takes the chord, not the shape: it shows the nearest of its own examples, so you can see the chord as triads stacked over one another.
• Key Builder: Build Key → (Harmony panel) or → Build Key (chord panel), for voicings on four strings or fewer. Key Builder opens on a key or mode that contains the chord (a “Chord in context” strip names it, for example “CMaj13#11 is degree I of C Lydian”), builds the whole key from your shape, and scrolls down to the chords.
• Sketchpad: the Sketchpad button (chord panel, Pro). The diagram is added to your Sketchpad collection, ready to place in a chord book. Player Projects Unit 5, Build a short chord book, uses this route; see the Player Projects Guide.

Chord Architect does not send to Chord Lab.

Receives from: no other app sends chords to Chord Architect. Your saves reopen it from My Library.

Related concepts

From the Theory Glossary: Extension · Alteration · Altered dominant · Tritone · Guide tones · Inversion · Inferred root · Drop 2 · Drop 3 · Drop 2+4 · Shell voicing · Quartal · Synonym · Protean chord · Symmetrical harmony · Whole tone · Upper structure · Polychord

Try it

1. Choose C and Dom 7, then Dominant 7. Play a few voicings.
2. Move down to Dominant 9, then Dominant 13, and listen to the colour build. Read the note in the Harmony panel on what each voicing leaves out.
3. Choose 7♭9. The Diminished family box shows four roots that share one shape: move a voicing up three frets and play it again.
4. Open a voicing you like and send it to Progression Lab with + Progression.

Open Chord Architect →