Chord name in, notes out

Reverse Chord Finder

This tool works the opposite way to the main chord finder. Instead of starting from notes and finding a chord name, you pick a root note and a chord quality here, and it shows you exactly which notes that chord is built from, both as a plain list and highlighted on a small keyboard, with a Play button so you can hear it. This is useful when you already know a chord's name, from a song chart, a music theory exercise, or a teacher, and need to work out its exact notes before you can play or write it.

How to use the reverse chord finder

Choose a root note from the first dropdown (all 12 notes are available) and a chord quality from the second, ranging from a plain major or minor triad through sixths, sevenths, ninths and suspended chords. The result updates immediately: the chord's full name appears above the note list, the individual notes are listed in ascending pitch order (the same low-to-high order they light up on the small keyboard beneath them, not necessarily starting from the root), so you have a visual reference as well as a text one. Press Play to hear the chord.

This is the direct reverse of the plain chord finder on the homepage: selecting notes there and getting a chord name back is exactly the same lookup as picking a chord name here and getting notes back, just run in the opposite direction through the same underlying dictionary of root-plus-interval formulas.

Pick any of the 12 roots and any of the supported chord qualities
Notes are listed in ascending pitch order, low to high, not necessarily starting from the root
A small keyboard highlights the same notes visually
Play lets you hear the chord immediately
Every result updates instantly, no button needed to trigger a lookup

Why a chord's notes are not always obvious from its name

A chord's name tells you its formula, not its exact notes, until you actually work out the arithmetic: "F# minor 7th" means take F#, then add a minor third, a perfect fifth and a minor seventh above it, which lands on specific notes (F#, A, C#, E) that are not obvious at a glance unless you already have the twelve-note chromatic scale memorized starting from F#. This gets more error-prone the further a root note is from C, and even more so for less common qualities like diminished sevenths or minor-major sevenths, where a single miscounted semitone changes the chord into something else entirely.

Working this out by hand every time is exactly the kind of repetitive interval arithmetic a tool is good at removing: pick the root and quality once, and the exact notes are computed instantly and consistently, with no risk of a counting mistake.

Worked examples

F# minor. Root F#, quality Minor. The chord tones are F#, A and C#: a minor third (3 semitones) above F# lands on A, and a perfect fifth (7 semitones) above F# lands on C#. Listed in the tool's ascending pitch order (not root-first), that is C#/Db, F# and A.

Bb major 7th. Root Bb (also written A#), quality Major 7th. The chord tones are Bb, D, F and A: the major triad (Bb, D, F) with a major seventh, A, stacked on top, 11 semitones above the root. Listed in the tool's ascending pitch order (not root-first), that is D, F, A and A#/Bb.

D suspended 4th. Root D, quality Suspended 4th. The tool returns D, G and A: no third at all, replaced by a fourth (G, 5 semitones above D), which is exactly what makes a suspended chord sound neither major nor minor. D is already the lowest of the three, so the ascending order matches the root here.

G dominant 9th. Root G, quality Dominant 9th. The chord tones are G, B, D, F and A: a dominant 7th chord (G, B, D, F) with an added ninth, A, stacked another third on top, giving the fuller, jazzier sound common in funk and jazz voicings. Listed in the tool's ascending pitch order (not root-first), that is D, F, G, A and B.

Using this alongside the guitar and piano tools

Once you have the exact notes for a chord from this page, the piano chord finder can show you where those same notes sit on a real keyboard by clicking them yourself to confirm, and the guitar chord finder can generate a fretboard diagram directly from the same root and quality without you needing to re-enter anything, since all four tools on this site share one identical chord dictionary. This makes it straightforward to move between representations: start from a chord name here, check its notes, then jump to whichever instrument tool matches what you are actually playing.

See the piano chord finder to click those notes yourself, or the guitar chord finder for a matching fretboard diagram.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find the notes in a chord?

Pick the chord's root note and quality from the two dropdown menus above. The exact notes are shown immediately as a list, highlighted on a small keyboard, and available to hear with the Play button.

What chord qualities are supported?

Major, minor, diminished, augmented, suspended 2nd and 4th, major and minor 6th, dominant/major/minor 7th, half-diminished and diminished 7th, minor-major 7th, add 9, dominant/major/minor 9th, and plain power chords (root and fifth only).

Why does a chord sometimes list a flat note instead of a sharp, or the reverse?

Root notes that have two common spellings (like C# and Db) are shown with the sharp spelling by default in the root dropdown, since either spelling represents the exact same pitch and produces an identical set of resulting notes.

Is this the same as the guitar chord finder's diagram lookup?

It uses the same underlying chord dictionary, but this page shows plain notes and a keyboard highlight for any of the supported qualities, while the guitar chord finder additionally draws a playable fretboard diagram, currently for five of the most common qualities (major, minor, dominant 7th, major 7th and minor 7th).

Can I use this to check my music theory homework?

Yes. Working out a chord's notes by hand and then checking the answer here is a reasonable way to verify interval arithmetic, since the tool applies the exact same standard formulas (root plus a fixed set of semitone intervals) that music theory courses teach.

Does this tool store which chords I look up?

No. Every lookup happens instantly in your own browser, and nothing about which chords you view is sent to a server, logged, or stored anywhere.

Have notes but not a chord name?

The chord finder does the opposite lookup: select notes, get the chord name.

Go to the chord finder

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