Piano Chords: Interactive Chord Finder & Guide

What Are Piano Chords?

Three or more notes played together

Chords are the building blocks of accompaniment. Where a scale moves one note at a time, a chord stacks several notes on top of each other so they sound at once. Almost every song you will ever accompany — pop, worship, jazz standards, film themes — is really just a sequence of chords with a melody woven over the top, which is exactly what a chord sheet shows you.

The good news is that the shapes repeat. Learn what a major triad feels like under your fingers in one key, and you can slide the same shape to any of the other eleven roots. That is the whole logic behind the chord finder below — explore a handful of chords and the pattern becomes obvious.

Interactive Chord Finder

Pick a root and a chord type — see it, hear it, name it

Choose any root note from the circle of fifths, a chord type — triads or 4-note chords — and an inversion below. The keyboard highlights every note in the chord and labels each key with its note name, the same notes appear as badges above, and you can click the keyboard or the “Play chord” button to hear it. This is the fastest way to check a chord shape for a song, a chord sheet, or your own practice.

Once a chord shape feels secure, see how it's built in the chord types section, check its position in the piano chords table, or look it up directly in the chord library below.

How to Read Chord Symbols

Decoding the letters and numbers above the stave

Chord symbols look cryptic at first, but they follow a strict pattern: root letter, then an optional quality, then an optional added note. Once you know the code, you can read any chord sheet.

The letter before any symbol is always the root — the note the chord is named after and usually (though not always) the lowest note you play. Everything after the letter tells you how to alter the basic triad. A slash chord such as C/E simply means “play a C major chord, but put E in the bass” — this is just a specific inversion written out explicitly. If you're building up your music-reading skills more broadly, our how to read music guide covers the stave, clefs and note names, and the musical terms & tempo markings glossary is handy for any other marking you meet on the page.

Chord Types Explained

Thirteen chord shapes, built from one triad

Every chord type below starts from the same major scale idea and moves one or two notes. The finder groups these into triads (three notes) and 4-note chords, matching the layout of the chord finder above — try each one there to hear the difference.

Triads

Major Triad

Root, major 3rd, perfect 5th. The brightest, most stable-sounding chord — the default sound most people picture when they hear the word “chord.” Example: C major = C–E–G.

Minor Triad

Root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th — only the third is lowered by a semitone compared to major. This single semitone shift is what makes a chord sound sad or moody rather than bright. Example: C minor = C–E♭–G.

Diminished

Root, minor 3rd, diminished (flattened) 5th. Tense and unstable-sounding, almost always used briefly to lead into another chord rather than to sit on. Example: Bdim = B–D–F.

Augmented

Root, major 3rd, sharpened 5th. An unsettled, dreamlike sound used sparingly for colour or as a bridge between two chords. Example: Caug = C–E–G♯.

Sus2 & Sus4

“Suspended” chords remove the third altogether and replace it with the 2nd or the 4th, so the chord is neither major nor minor — open and unresolved. They're often played just before resolving back to the plain major or minor triad. Example: Dsus4 = D–G–A.

4-Note Chords

Dominant 7th

A major triad plus a minor 7th on top. This chord creates tension that wants to resolve, which is why it's used so heavily on the fifth chord of a key (the “dominant”) just before returning home. Example: G7 = G–B–D–F.

Major 7th

A major triad plus a major 7th. Smoother and dreamier than a dominant 7th, common in jazz and ballad accompaniment. Example: Cmaj7 = C–E–G–B.

Minor 7th

A minor triad plus a minor 7th. Warm and mellow — a staple of soul, jazz and lo-fi accompaniment. Example: Am7 = A–C–E–G.

Major 6th

A major triad plus a major 6th, replacing the tension of a 7th with a softer, jazzier colour that still feels resolved. Common as a closing chord in jazz standards and 1930s–50s pop. Example: C6 = C–E–G–A.

Minor 6th

A minor triad plus a major 6th — a slightly unsettled, cinematic minor sound often heard in film scores and jazz ballads. Example: Cm6 = C–E♭–G–A.

Diminished 7th

A diminished triad plus a diminished 7th, stacking minor 3rds all the way up. Highly unstable and dramatic, it's a favourite for building tension in classical and musical-theatre writing. Example: Cdim7 = C–E♭–G♭–A.

Add9

A major triad with an extra 9th (the note a tone above the octave, same letter as the 2nd) added on top — not to be confused with a 7th chord, since there's no 7th present. It gives a bright, open, slightly modern pop sound. Example: Cadd9 = C–E–G–D.

Chord Inversions

Same notes, different order

An inversion is the same chord with the notes rearranged so a different note sits at the bottom. The notes played are identical — only their order (and which one is lowest) changes. Inversions make chord progressions smoother, because your hand doesn't have to jump around the keyboard between chords.

Notice all three rows use exactly the same three letters — C, E and G — just starting from a different note. Once triads are comfortable in root position, practising inversions is the single best way to make chord changes sound connected rather than jumpy, and it's essential for reading slash chords like C/E (that's simply C major in 1st inversion).

Piano Chords Table

Every root, six chord types, at a glance

This piano chords table is the fastest reference on the page: find your root down the left, read across for the notes of major, minor, dominant 7th, major 7th, minor 7th and diminished chords. For augmented and suspended chords, or to hear any of these played, use the chord finder above.

If you'd rather have this table on paper, the printable PDF below includes it in full, plus a labelled keyboard diagram to prop next to your instrument.

Common Chords by Root Note

Major & minor triads for all 12 keys

Looking for one specific chord — a D chord on piano, a G chord, an A chord, a Bm chord? Every major and minor triad has its own card below with the exact notes and fingering. Tap “Show on finder” to see and hear any of them on the interactive keyboard.

Every chord above is a plain triad in root position. Once these feel secure, revisit the chord types section to add 7ths, or head to the full table for every variant in one place.

Common Chord Progressions

Joining chords together into music

A chord progression is simply a sequence of chords played one after another. A handful of progressions account for a huge amount of popular music — learn these shapes in a couple of keys and you can accompany hundreds of songs. Knowing which chord comes next is half the job; the other half is when to change, which comes down to reading the rhythm on the page — see our time signatures & note values guide for that side of things.

The Roman numerals describe each chord's position in the key, which is why the same progression can be transposed to any key by keeping the numbers and changing the letters. For the full breakdown of exactly which seven chords belong to each major and minor key — with its own interactive finder for all 24 keys — see our chords in every key guide. To see how keys, sharps and flats relate to one another, the circle of fifths guide is the natural next stop.

Chord Sheets for Piano

Reading lyrics-and-chords notation

A chord sheet (sometimes called a lead sheet or chord chart) shows the lyrics or melody line with chord symbols written above the words, instead of fully written-out sheet music. You supply the accompaniment yourself, using whichever voicing, rhythm and inversion suits the song — the chord symbol only tells you which notes, not how to arrange them.

How to Use One

Read straight through the lyrics; wherever a chord symbol sits above a word, that's the beat where the chord changes underneath. Look up any unfamiliar symbol in the chord symbols section above, check the notes in the chords table, then find that shape with your left hand (or both hands) while your right hand plays or supports the melody.

Why They're Useful

Chord sheets are faster to read than full notation once you know your chords, and they leave room for your own style — the same chord sheet can be played as a simple block-chord accompaniment or a flowing arpeggiated pattern. That flexibility is exactly why gigging musicians and worship pianists rely on them so heavily.

Free Lead Sheets to Practise With

Once a chord shape feels secure, the fastest way to make it stick is to use it in a real song. Our free Christmas lead sheets cover public-domain carols and popular festive songs in Concert, B♭ and E♭, and our online Real Book has free chord-and-melody lead sheets for over 50 jazz standards, also in Concert, B♭ and E♭. Both are exactly the kind of chord-sheet notation described above — ideal practice material once you've worked through this page.

Our free printable PDF includes a blank chord-sheet template alongside the full chords table, ready to print and fill in for your own songs.

Printable PDF

A free piano chords chart for your music stand

Below is a free printable reference covering everything on this page: the full piano chords table for all 12 roots, a labelled keyboard diagram, how to read chord symbols, and a blank chord-sheet template. Print it at A4 or US Letter and keep it where you practise.

The PDF is completely free — no email signup required. If you find it useful, share this page with a fellow learner or teacher. And if you would like one-to-one help at the keyboard, book a lesson — we cover everything from your very first chord to full accompaniment.