See what you’re playing.
Pick notes on the fretboard. Discover matching chords and scales, see their relationship to a key, and hear your selection.
Explore the fretboardA little more possibility in every string
New tuning.
Same ideas.
Take the chords you know into the tunings you want to play. Explore the notes, find a new fingering, and make it your own.
No signup No download Just your browser
Interactive exampleE5 · Power chord
Try a chord
Show
Your starting point
Standard
0 2 2 4 × ×
Your next tuning
Drop D
2 2 2 4 × ×
1 index · 2 middle · 3 ring · 4 little · O open · × muted
Try a tuning
Same notes. A new way to play them.E2 · B2 · E3 · B3 — every pitch and octave preserved.
E · BRoot + perfect fifth
E = IB = V
No third: a power chord alone doesn’t determine a major or minor key.
Drop D, showing fingers. index barre across strings 1–3 at fret 2. The E5 power chord keeps the notes E2 · B2 · E3 · B3. All chord tones fit E major.
Three chords. Three tunings. Find more possibilities in the app.
Built around your strings
Guitar Bass Ukulele Custom tunings
Less figuring out. More playing.
Get to know your fretboard.
Then go somewhere new.
One place to connect the notes, the theory, and the shapes under your fingers.
Take a chord somewhere new.
Choose another tuning or instrument and compare suggested fingerings. See which keep the exact pitches and which change an octave.
Translate a shapeYour instrument. Your setup.
Add that low B. Try an open tuning. Change the frets, turn the board sideways, and keep the controls where they work for you.
Make it your ownMusic theory, connected to your instrument
Understand what
you’re playing.
Start with the notes under your fingers. Connect them to chords, scales, and the key you’re playing in.
Discover chords and scales
See ranked matches for your selected notes, including modes, pentatonics, and blues scales.
Keep one global key
Carry your chosen key across Explore and Translate. See which notes belong to it, its parallel key, or neither.
Choose how you read a shape
Switch between notes, fingering, Roman scale degrees, and Nashville numbers. The notes stay the same; the labels change.
Explore and hear harmony
Inspect diatonic chords, seventh tones, and common progressions. Play selected notes together or as arpeggios in Explore.
One note. A different chord.Try these notes
Notation
C major
Exact chord match- C
- RootI in C major
- E
- Major 3rdIII in C major
- G
- Perfect 5thV in C major
In key · C major
E is the major third. The global key sets the context for these notes.
One scale that fitsC Ionian (Major)
- C (selected chord tone)
- D
- E (selected chord tone)
- F
- G (selected chord tone)
- A
- B
Chords in this scale · degrees in C major
- I
- C
- II
- Dm
- III
- Em
- IV
- F
- V
- G
- VI
- Am
- VII
- B°
C · E · G: C major. In key · C major. Roman numerals, C major reference. Scale example: C Ionian (Major).
Room for every string
Built for your strings.
Guitars, bass, ukulele, banjo, and mandolin. Start with a familiar tuning or make the instrument your own.
Open-string notes, in instrument order
6 strings
Standard
7 strings
Drop A
8 strings
Drop E
9 strings
Standard
6 strings
AADACD
7 strings
BEADF♯BE
8 strings
F♯BEADGCF
9 strings
CEG♯CEG♯CEG♯
4 strings
Bass
4 strings
Ukulele
5 strings
Banjo · Open G
8 strings
Mandolin
An open invitation to experiment
Bring your curiosity.
Start exploring for free.
Explore and Translate are free to use. Get straight to the fretboard and see where the next idea takes you.
- Custom instruments & tunings
- Chord & scale discovery
- Shape translation & fingerings
- Note & chord playback in Explore
A few things you might be wondering
Before you dive in.
Is Tunings free?
Yes. The current Explore and Translate tools are free to use. Open the app and start playing with notes—no credit card or subscription needed.
Do I need an account?
No account is needed to explore the fretboard or translate a chord shape. Your display preferences stay in your browser. An account is only needed for the cloud instrument library, when available.
Does it work with my instrument or tuning?
Start with a guitar, bass, ukulele, or another included instrument preset. Change individual string pitches, add strings, and adjust the fret count to match your setup. Translation supports fretted instruments with independently played strings; paired courses, such as a mandolin’s, are not supported by the translator yet.
Will a translated chord sound exactly the same?
An exact result preserves each sounding pitch and octave. Tunings also offers clearly labelled octave-equivalent fingerings when moving notes by whole octaves gives you another option. If it cannot find a complete playable shape within its search limits, it tells you.
Can I hear the notes?
Yes. Select notes in Explore and use the playback controls to hear them together or as an arpeggio. It is a useful way to check an idea before trying it on your instrument.