Piano chords: chart, finder and game

See any chord on the keyboard with its notes and fingering, name the keys you press, then build chords against the clock.

Free, no signup. By the MasterPiano team, makers of a piano practice app. Updated .

Key
Chord type

C majorC

Root position

C major on the piano: C, E and GCEGC5
Notes
C, E and G
Formula
1 3 5
Type
major
C root position: notes from the bottom up and fingering
NotesCEG
Right hand135
Left hand531
C major chord page

Tap some keys

Press three or more keys and the finder names the chord, in any order and any inversion. Try E, G and C.

C4C5

Piano chord chart

Every chord on the chart in all 12 keys, spelled the way musicians write them. Open any chord for its keyboard diagram, fingering for each hand and inversions.

How piano chords are built

A chord is three or more notes played together. Most chords are built by stacking thirds: start on a note, skip a letter, take the next one. C, skip D, E, skip F, G gives the C chord. Every chord takes every other letter, which is why each note has one right spelling.

On the piano, count half steps: from one key to the very next, black or white. A major chord is 4 half steps from the root to the third, then 3 more to the fifth. A minor chord flips that: 3, then 4. Same outer notes, only the middle one moves.

C major: C, E and GCEG
C major: C, E and G
C minor: C, E♭ and GCGE♭
C minor: C, E♭ and G

Add more thirds or move a note and you get every other chord type. Here they all are on C:

Chord typeFormulaOn C
majorC1 3 5C, E and G
minorCm1 ♭3 5C, E♭ and G
diminishedCdim1 ♭3 ♭5C, E♭ and G♭
augmentedCaug1 3 ♯5C, E and G♯
suspended secondCsus21 2 5C, D and G
suspended fourthCsus41 4 5C, F and G
dominant seventhC71 3 5 ♭7C, E, G and B♭
major seventhCmaj71 3 5 7C, E, G and B
minor seventhCm71 ♭3 5 ♭7C, E♭, G and B♭
half-diminished seventhCm7♭51 ♭3 ♭5 ♭7C, E♭, G♭ and B♭
diminished seventhCdim71 ♭3 ♭5 𝄫7C, E♭, G♭ and B𝄫
major sixthC61 3 5 6C, E, G and A
minor sixthCm61 ♭3 5 6C, E♭, G and A
add nineCadd91 3 5 9C, E, G and D

How to read chord symbols

The letter is the root, the note the chord is built on. Everything after it names the chord type, and a slash names the bass note. Lead sheets and songbooks write the same chord in a few ways:

WrittenMeansNotes
CC majorC, E and G
Cm, Cmin, C-C minorC, E♭ and G
C7C dominant seventhC, E, G and B♭
Cmaj7, CM7, CΔ7C major seventhC, E, G and B
Cm7, Cmin7, C-7C minor seventhC, E♭, G and B♭
Cdim, C°C diminishedC, E♭ and G♭
Cdim7, C°7C diminished seventhC, E♭, G♭ and B𝄫
Cm7♭5, Cø7C half-diminished seventhC, E♭, G♭ and B♭
Caug, C+C augmentedC, E and G♯
Csus2C with D in place of EC, D and G
Csus4, CsusC with F in place of EC, F and G
C6C major with an added sixthC, E, G and A
Cadd9C major with an added ninthC, E, G and D
C/EC major with E in the bassE, G and C

Chord inversions

An inversion is the same chord with a different note at the bottom. The notes do not change, only their order. A three-note chord has root position and two inversions; a four-note chord has three.

Inversions keep your hand close: going from C to F, play F in second inversion (C, F, A) and only two fingers move. Chord symbols show an inversion with a slash, so C/E is C major with E at the bottom.

C

Root position

C major, root position, on the piano: C, E and G from the bottom upCEGC5
C root position: notes from the bottom up and fingering
NotesCEG
Right hand135
Left hand531

C/E

First inversion

C major, first inversion, on the piano: E, G and C from the bottom upC4EGC
C/E first inversion: notes from the bottom up and fingering
NotesEGC
Right hand125
Left hand531

C/G

Second inversion

C major, second inversion, on the piano: G, C and E from the bottom upC4GCE
C/G second inversion: notes from the bottom up and fingering
NotesGCE
Right hand135
Left hand521

The most common chord progressions

A progression is a chain of chords. Roman numerals name each chord by its place in the key: I is the chord on the first note, V on the fifth; capitals are major, small letters minor. Learn a progression once and you can play it in any key. To find the chords of another key, use the circle of fifths.

  • Pop progression

    I V vi IV

    Four chords behind a huge number of pop songs. The verse of Let It Be by the Beatles uses it in C.

    In C
    CGAmF
    In G
    GDEmC

  • Three-chord trick

    I IV V

    The three major chords of a key. With them you can play blues, rock and roll, folk songs and hymns.

    In C
    CFG
    In G
    GCD

  • Fifties progression

    I vi IV V

    The doo-wop sound of the 1950s, heard in Stand by Me.

    In C
    CAmFG
    In G
    GEmCD

  • Jazz two-five-one

    ii7 V7 Imaj7

    The cadence at the heart of jazz harmony: a minor seventh, a dominant seventh, then home.

    In C
    Dm7G7Cmaj7
    In G
    Am7D7Gmaj7

  • Minor cadence

    i iv V

    Minor keys borrow a major V chord from the harmonic minor scale, so the last chord pulls hard back home.

    In A minor
    AmDmE
    In E minor
    EmAmB

The 12-bar blues

Twelve bars of three dominant seventh chords, I7, IV7 and V7, the shape of countless blues and rock and roll songs. Here it is in C, one chord per bar:

  1. Bar 1C7
  2. Bar 2C7
  3. Bar 3C7
  4. Bar 4C7
  5. Bar 5F7
  6. Bar 6F7
  7. Bar 7C7
  8. Bar 8C7
  9. Bar 9G7
  10. Bar 10F7
  11. Bar 11C7
  12. Bar 12C7

Keep learning

Play chords from real sheet music

MasterPiano gives you new music to read at your level and listens as you play, through a MIDI keyboard or your device's microphone, marking each note right or wrong.

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Questions

How many piano chords are there?

Every chord type can start on any of the 12 keys, so there are 12 major chords, 12 minor chords, 12 dominant sevenths and so on. The chart on this page covers 14 chord types, 168 chords in all. Most songs only need a handful of major and minor chords.

Which piano chords should a beginner learn first?

Start with C, F and G major and A, D and E minor. They use only white keys, and together they are the six main chords of the key of C major (I, IV, V, vi, ii and iii), enough for a great many songs.

How do I find the name of a chord I am playing?

Use the chord finder at the top of this page. Tap the keys, or play them on a MIDI keyboard in Chrome or Edge, and it names every chord those keys make, including inversions such as C/E.

What is the difference between a major and a minor chord?

Both have a root and a perfect fifth 7 half steps above it. A major chord has a major third, 4 half steps above the root; a minor chord has a minor third, 3 half steps above it. Lower the middle note of C major (C, E, G) by one key and you get C minor (C, E♭, G).

What fingers do you use for piano chords?

For a three-note chord in root position, the right hand plays 1, 3 and 5 (thumb, middle finger and little finger) and the left hand 5, 3 and 1. Four-note chords use 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the right hand and 5, 3, 2 and 1 in the left. Each chord page shows the fingering for every inversion.

What is a chord inversion?

The same chord with a different note at the bottom. C major in root position is C, E, G. First inversion puts E at the bottom (E, G, C, written C/E) and second inversion puts G at the bottom (G, C, E, written C/G).

Why is it B♭ major and not A♯ major?

Chords are built on every other letter, so a chord on B uses the letters B, D and F. B♭ major is B♭, D and F. The same three keys spelled from A♯ would be A♯, C𝄪 and E♯, which is correct on paper but much harder to read, so musicians write B♭.

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