Free Chord Identifier
Name any chord from its notes. Tap the keys on a piano, or the frets on a guitar or ukulele, and see the chord's name, how it's spelled on the staff, and whether it's in root position or an inversion.
A piano chord identifier, a guitar chord identifier and a ukulele chord identifier in one, online and free. It works from the notes you tap, not from a recording: it never uses the microphone.
How it names a chord
- It finds every chord your notes make. The same notes can have two names: C E G A is C6, and also Am7 with C at the bottom. The name whose root is your lowest note comes first, and the others are under Also fits.
- The lowest note decides the inversion. E G C is still C major, but with E at the bottom: C/E, the first inversion.
- A missing 5th is fine in a seventh chord, as players often leave it out: C E B♭ is C7.
- Each note keeps its chord’s spelling. In C minor the middle note is E♭, never D♯, so the staff and the names show E♭. The chord formulas guide explains why.
- Two notes get the name of their interval, and notes that make no chord get the chords one note away.
Name a chord without the tool
To work out a chord by hand, put its notes in a stack of 3rds, the way chords are built:
- Move notes by an octave until each is a 3rd above the one below: every other letter, like C E G or D F A. E G C becomes C E G: only the C moves, down an octave.
- The bottom note of the stack is the root. Here it’s C.
- Measure up from the root to find the type. C to E is a major 3rd and C to G a perfect 5th, so the chord is C major. Count the half steps as in intervals, then match them to the chord formulas.
- Check which note was at the bottom to begin with. E was the lowest note, so the chord is C/E, the first inversion.
If the notes won’t stack in 3rds, look for a 2nd or a 4th in place of the 3rd (sus2, sus4), or a 6th or a 9th added on top (6, add9). Or tap them in above and let the tool do it.
Practicing at home
- Name the chords in your music. Tap the notes of a chord from the score and check what you think it is.
- Found a shape on the guitar? Tap it in and see what it’s called, then look up other ways to play it in the chord finder.
- Learn inversions by ear. Play C E G, then E G C, then G C E: the same chord, three sounds.
Using it in class
- Chord detective. Tap three notes on the projector, let the class name the chord, then show the answer.
- Inversions on the board. Move the lowest note up an octave and watch the name change from C to C/E to C/G.
- Check written work. Students build chords on paper; tap their notes in to check them together.
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Questions
Can it hear a chord?
No. It names a chord from the notes you tap. Working out chords from a recording needs listening software, and this tool never uses the microphone.
Which chords does it know?
The same fifteen types as the chord finder: major, minor, diminished, augmented, sus2, sus4, 7, maj7, m7, m7♭5, dim7, 6, m6, add9 and 9, on all twelve roots, in any inversion.
Why are there two names?
Some sets of notes make more than one chord. C E G A is C6 (C, E, G with a 6th) and also Am7 (A, C, E, G). Which name the music uses depends on the lowest note and the key, so both are shown, with the one built on your lowest note first.
What does the slash in C/E mean?
The chord is C major, played with E as the lowest note. That’s an inversion: the first inversion has the 3rd at the bottom, the second inversion the 5th.