Free tools Music tool

Play over a chord

Pick a chord and a scale, let it ring, and play or sing over it. Every note you play lands on top of the chord and glows: green when it fits, amber when it adds tension, red when it clashes. Use your microphone, or tap the keys.

  1. E4 : Fits
  2. G4 : Fits
  3. A4 : Tense
  4. F♯4 : Clashes
  5. G4 : Fits
  6. E4 : Fits
  • Chord tone
  • In the scale
  • Fits
  • Tense
  • Clashes

Tap a key, or press Listen and play. Headphones help while the chord is ringing.

The chord showing an example

Cmaj7 over C Ionian (major)

C · E · G · B

Last note

E4 Fits

In the scale, and consonant with every chord tone.

So far

4 of 6 notes fit

The microphone is heard only by this browser. Nothing is recorded, stored, or sent.

Before you ask

How it behaves.

How does the chord tool decide whether a note fits?

It asks two things about every note you play: is it in the scale you chose, and is it consonant with every tone of the chord — a unison or octave, a third, a fourth or fifth, or a sixth. Both makes it fit (green). Only one makes it tense or outside (amber). Neither makes it clash (red). The rule comes from the music-practice prototype behind the Musicians, Play the Changes idea.

Does the chord tool record or upload my playing?

No. When you press Listen, your browser asks for the microphone, and the sound is analysed on the page, a few frames at a time, to find the note you are playing. Nothing is recorded, stored, or sent, and the microphone is released when you stop listening or leave the page.