Your fretboard as a crisp SVG file.
1. Pick a key and a scale. The 7 chords that belong to that scale fill the chord grid. Major modes are free. Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor are Pro.
2. Tap a chord to see its triad (its 3 notes) on the neck.
3. Pick your strings. Adjacent uses 3 strings side by side. Spread (Pro) skips strings for a wider sound. All shows the chord's notes on all 6 strings.
4. Pick a position to move up or down the neck. Positions come from the key's home chord shapes, so they line up with the scale: 4 frets each (one is 5). If a chord needs it, the shape reaches 1 fret toward the nut or the bridge, shown shaded, so your whole progression stays in one spot.
5. Build a progression. Every chord you tap is added in order. Use Prev and Next to step through it. Pro adds Play progression (it repeats until you press Stop), Sound, and Export.
Reading the dots: the root (the chord's home note) has a ring around it. The other 2 chord notes are solid. Colors swap between light and dark mode, but the ring always means root.
Dot labels change what is written on each dot:
Notes: the note name (A, C#, E, and so on).
By key: each note's number in the key and scale you picked above, 1 through 7. These stay the same no matter which chord you tap.
By chord: counts from the chord you're on. Its root shows as R and its other notes as 3, 5, and so on. These change as you move through your progression. A 2 that sits an octave above the root is called the 9, so the same note can be "2" by key and "9" by chord. Both are right.
Modifiers: tap a chord, then open Modifiers to change it: ♭ or ♯ for borrowed chords, maj, min, dim, aug, sus2, sus4, 5 (power chord), 7, maj7, and add9. They change the highlighted chord in your progression too. Tap again to undo, or Reset chord. 7, maj7 and add9 have 4 notes, so with 3 strings one note is left out and shown as a dashed dot. For add9, the root becomes the bass note on a lower string and the top strings play the 3rd, 5th and 9th. Near the nut, open strings can finish a shape (dots left of the neck).
Power chords: tap 5 in Modifiers to turn one chord into a power chord (root and 5th, no 3rd), shown as R 5 R or 5 R 5 on your 3 strings. The Power chords switch next to Chords does it to every chord at once. Turn it off and your chords go back to how they were.
Scale layers (Pro): pick Off, Pentatonic, or Full scale. The chord stays on top and the scale notes fill in around it in gold, so you can see which notes to play around the chord.
3NPS (Pro): tap 3NPS to see the scale as 7 shapes with 3 notes on every string. Each string is colored by the gaps between its 3 notes (W = whole step, 2 frets; H = half step, 1 fret): teal W-W, blue H-W, purple W-H, and magenta for a step and a half (3 frets, found in Harmonic Minor). While 3NPS is on, it replaces the Scale layer and the Position buttons switch to the 7 shapes.
Voice Leading (Pro): tap Voice Leading under the neck to step through your progression on one string set. Pick Root position only or Smooth: smooth picks the shape of each chord closest to the one before it, so notes stay put or move a fret or two. Each string shows Stays or how far it moves, and dashed circles show where your fingers just were.
Intervals strip: the notes of your scale in a row, with the gap between each pair on top (W, H, or 1½) and the number of frets under it. The chord you're on is marked the same way as on the neck. If a chord uses a note outside the key, that note swaps in and the gaps update. For add9, the strip starts on the chord's root and adds the 9 one step past the octave.
Under the neck you'll see the name of the shape (for example 2nd inversion, or Root in bass for 4-note chords) and one line with the chord's notes and what makes it sound the way it does. If that position can't fit the whole chord on your strings, it says so. Try another position or string set.
Sound (Pro): each chord plays 4 notes: low string, middle, high, middle. Tempo changes take effect on the next chord while the progression plays.
Cancel anytime. One key works on up to 5 devices.
Want all 3 Pro tools? Get the bundle at Fretboard Decoded → Close ▴Your progression on one string set. Smooth picks the shape of each chord closest to the one before it, so your hand barely moves. Flip the style and step through to compare.
