Chord Dictionary is a reverse chord identification tool, it names chords by user selection on the fretboard, for guitar, piano, and note staff. Shows chord inversions on guitar and piano.
A fourth without a major or minor third is identified as sus4, including seventh chords with an omitted, natural, flat, or sharp fifth. When a third is present, the fourth can instead be named as an eleventh. In guitar view, chord identification and playback use the notes selected on the fretboard. The piano spans four octaves, C3 through B6. The staff uses treble and bass note dropdowns to add or remove pitches. Playback starts at a low volume. Piano inversions wrap as a whole chord between the left and right ends of the keyboard.
Connect a USB MIDI keyboard or controller to your computer, press Connect MIDI, and allow MIDI access in your browser. Select the input device, then play chords: Chord Dictionary identifies the harmony and inversions and marks the notes on its piano keyboard as you play and release them. Sustain pedal messages are supported, including chords spanning several octaves. Use Chrome or Edge on HTTPS or localhost; browsers without Web MIDI can still use all manual tools. Live input plays a velocity-sensitive piano sound through your computer, controlled by Volume, without sending MIDI back to your device. Disconnect MIDI to return to manual editing, or use Reset held notes if needed.
Press Download MIDI to save the chord you are viewing as a Standard MIDI file. The chord is played as a single strum from the lowest to the highest note and rings for one bar of 4/4 at 120 BPM, with a guitar sound in guitar view and a piano sound in the piano and notation views. Drop the file into a DAW or notation program to build chord progressions, voice-leading studies or backing tracks from any guitar chord voicing. The Chord Library sits beside the chord name, so the view, playback and inversion controls stay in sight next to the fretboard.
Pick a root and one of 67 library chords: six basic triads, followed by major (with separate Major seventh, Dominant seventh and Other major groups), minor, augmented, diminished, sus4 and sus2 extensions. In piano or notation view, library chords load in the current view with their full set of tones, without guitar voicing reductions. Close position (root position) stacks chord tones in order, such as 1, 3, 5, 7. Choose Drop 2 or Drop 3 to lower the second- or third-highest note of the close-position chord by an octave; the voicing is centred on the keyboard. Root on string is guitar-only. Use the inversion buttons for piano inversions. Close position is a keyboard voicing; on guitar the library uses playable Drop 3 and Drop 2 shapes instead, because close stacks are too stretchy to finger. All non-added-tone catalog templates are retained alongside the chart's altered 9th, 11th and 13th forms; equivalent templates appear once. Added-tone chords are excluded. The templates are transposed to the selected root. The neck moves to the right position and the chord voicing is placed on the fretboard with its intervals shown under each string. Choose the root on the 6th, 5th or 4th string, and switch between drop 3 voicings (the default) and drop 2 voicings. If drop 3 is not playable from the chosen root string, drop 2 is used. Extended templates follow the established voicing-reduction policy; any omitted intervals are listed rather than implying the full chord always fits one shape. The root, third or suspension, seventh and altered tones take priority: the natural fifth, ninth and eleventh are reduced first. Further tones may be omitted to obtain a playable shape within a four-fret span.
Your last chord is remembered when you come back, and the Share button links to exactly the chord you are viewing.