Piano chords, all of them

168 chords with correctly spelled notes, keyboard diagrams, fingering and inversions — and a free trainer that teaches them with real songs.

Major chords

Sounds bright and settled — the plain three-note chord most songs are built from.

Minor chords · written m

Sounds darker and more inward than major: one note moves, the whole mood changes.

Dominant 7th chords · written 7

Sounds restless — it leans hard toward the chord a 5th below, which is why it ends blues turnarounds.

Major 7th chords · written maj7

Sounds soft-focus and glassy: the neo-classical and neo-soul default.

Minor 7th chords · written m7

Sounds smooth and rounded: minor with the edge sanded off.

Major 6th chords · written 6

Sounds sweet, vintage, at rest — the classic last chord of the jazz age.

Minor 6th chords · written m6

Sounds bittersweet: minor with one bright note that will not settle.

Diminished chords · written dim

Sounds tense and unstable: it exists to move somewhere else.

Diminished 7th chords · written dim7

Sounds maximum suspense — stacked minor 3rds that could resolve four different ways.

Augmented chords · written aug

Sounds dreamlike and unresolved: major pushed one semitone too bright.

Suspended 2nd chords · written sus2

Sounds open and airy: neither major nor minor, because the 3rd is gone.

Suspended 4th chords · written sus4

Sounds held breath: the 4th wants to fall to the 3rd, and resolving it is the oldest trick in music.

Added 9th chords · written add9

Sounds shimmer on top of a plain major: the film-score and ballad favourite.

Dominant 9th chords · written 9

Sounds the funk and soul workhorse: a dominant 7th wearing colour.