Three simple steps
How to detect chords in a song
- 01
Choose a browser-supported audio file from your device. The track stays local.
- 02
ToolYogi samples the song, builds chroma profiles and estimates common chord shapes over time.
- 03
Listen alongside the timestamped progression and use the detected key context as a guide.
How does chord detection work?
The analyzer converts short audio windows into chroma profiles, which summarize energy across the 12 musical pitch classes. Those profiles are compared with common major, minor and dominant seventh chord templates.
Why are some chords marked N.C.?
N.C. means no stable chord was found with enough confidence in that window. Percussion-only sections, noisy recordings, ambiguous harmony or complex voicings can produce an uncertain result.
How accurate is automatic chord detection?
Accuracy depends heavily on the recording. Clear pop, folk and acoustic harmony is generally easier than dense mixes, suspended chords, slash chords, jazz extensions, distorted guitars or fast chord changes. Treat detections as estimates rather than ground truth.
What does the key context mean?
The key context is estimated from the overall chroma profile of the track. It can help interpret the chord progression, but songs can borrow chords, modulate or contain ambiguous tonal centers.
Which chord types are supported?
This first version focuses on major triads, minor triads and dominant seventh chords. More chord qualities such as diminished, augmented, suspended, major seventh and minor seventh can be added later.
Does ToolYogi upload my audio?
No. Decoding, FFT and chroma analysis run locally in your browser. The selected audio and detected progression are not uploaded or stored by ToolYogi.
A little more clarity
Frequently asked questions
Is the Chord Detector free?
Yes. The current browser-based chord detector works without an account.
Can it detect chords from MP3?
Yes, if your browser can decode the MP3. WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, FLAC and WebM may also work depending on browser codec support.
Can it detect guitar chords?
It analyzes the audio itself rather than the instrument, so it can estimate common chords in guitar, piano and full-mix recordings.
Does it show chord timing?
Yes. Repeated detections are merged into timestamped chord sections so you can follow the progression while listening.
Does it detect advanced jazz chords?
Not reliably in this first version. The current templates target major, minor and dominant seventh chords.
Is my song stored?
No. The audio and analysis stay in the browser session.