9 chords · sung · 4 levels
Chord ear training
Major or minor? Start there, one tap at a time, then climb to diminished, augmented and the sevenths, each chord sung a voice to a note.
How to use it
- Tap Play and answer Major or minor? Each chord is sung with its notes together; pick Up or Down to hear them one at a time instead. Play it again repeats it.
- After you answer, the chord's notes light up on the keyboard, and after a wrong answer Hear yours and Hear the right one play both. Get 8 of your last 10 right and the next level opens; Settings adds inversions, your own set of chords and the range.
Chord qualities and how they're built
Every chord in this trainer, the semitones of each note above the root, the notes when the root is C, and how it often sounds. How a chord sounds is a matter of ear and of the music around it, so take those words as a starting point.
| Chord | Semitones | On C | Often sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major | 0, 4, 7 | C, E, G | Bright, settled |
| Minor | 0, 3, 7 | C, E♭, G | Darker, softer |
| Diminished | 0, 3, 6 | C, E♭, G♭ | Tense, unstable |
| Augmented | 0, 4, 8 | C, E, G♯ | Stretched, unresolved |
| Dominant 7th | 0, 4, 7, 10 | C, E, G, B♭ | Wants to move on; the barbershop chord |
| Major 7th | 0, 4, 7, 11 | C, E, G, B | Soft, warm, a little dreamy |
| Minor 7th | 0, 3, 7, 10 | C, E♭, G, B♭ | Mellow, relaxed |
| Half-diminished 7th | 0, 3, 6, 10 | C, E♭, G♭, B♭ | Dark, searching |
| Diminished 7th | 0, 3, 6, 9 | C, E♭, G♭, B double flat (sounds as A) | Very tense, suspenseful |
Major or minor: the one note that changes
Sing a major chord from the bottom, root, third, fifth, then lower the middle note by a semitone and sing it again: that's minor. Nothing else moves. So when you're stuck on major or minor, listen for that middle note.
The other triads change one more note. Diminished is minor with the fifth lowered too; augmented is major with the fifth raised. The sevenths add a fourth note on top of one of these.
Inversions and voicings, sung
Here each chord is sung close together, a voice to a note, with the root at the bottom unless you turn on Inversions too. Then any note can be the lowest, and a seventh chord can even have its seventh at the bottom.
In a choir the same chord is often spread wider, with the bass well below the others and a note doubled. It's still the same quality, and once your ear knows the close shape, it starts to find it in the wide one too.
Which note is yours
In a harmony you sing one note of each chord, and the skill is hearing where yours sits: the root, the third, the fifth or the seventh. It's the third that makes a chord major or minor, and in a barbershop seventh, the seventh is the note sung furthest below a piano's, with the third a little low too, so the chord rings.
Practise it here: play a chord Up, sing along with its notes, then play it Together and hold one of them while it sounds. The keyboard after each answer shows you which notes you were singing among.
Free tools by Stackapella
You can hear the chord. Now sing one note of it.
Stackapella teaches you to sing harmony one part at a time, right in your browser.
- A guide sings your partHear your line over the others, slow it down, then take your turn.
- Your notes light upEach note shows where you landed, and a hint when to go up or down.
- Record every part yourselfStack your takes in time until you're the whole choir.
- Every course free
- Open source
- No ads, no tracking
Questions
How do I recognise chords by ear?
Listen to the chord's overall colour first, bright or dark, settled or tense, rather than picking out notes. Start with only major and minor, and add more once those are easy. When you're unsure, switch to Up to hear the notes one by one, and after a miss, play your answer beside the right one.
What is the difference between a major and a minor chord?
One note: the middle one, called the third. In a major chord it sits 4 semitones above the root; in a minor chord, 3. The root and the fifth are the same in both, so that one semitone is all that turns a bright chord into a darker one.
Which chords should I learn first?
Major and minor, since most of the music you hear is built mainly from them. Then diminished and augmented, then the three common sevenths (dominant, major and minor 7th), then the half-diminished and diminished 7th. Those are the four levels here, in that order.
What are inversions, and can I hear them?
An inversion is the same chord with a note other than the root at the bottom: the third in first inversion, the fifth in second. The chord keeps its name, but its colour shifts, which makes it harder to name. Turn on Inversions too in Settings to practise naming chords whichever note is lowest.
What is a seventh chord, and how many kinds are there?
A chord of four notes: a triad with a seventh added above the root. This trainer has the five you meet most: dominant 7th, major 7th, minor 7th, half-diminished 7th and diminished 7th. The table below shows how each is built.
What is a barbershop seventh?
A dominant 7th chord, a major chord with a minor 7th on top, tuned the way barbershop singers tune it. They tend to sing its seventh lower than a piano's, by up to about a third of a semitone (31 cents, the pure 7:4 seventh), so all four notes ring together. This trainer sings the dominant 7th tuned like a piano; to hear the pure, ringing one, play the Barbershop 7th on the drone.
Why do chords sound different sung than on a piano?
A piano's notes are struck and fade, and are tuned in equal steps. Voices hold their notes, each with its own vowel and vibrato, and a group singing unaccompanied often tunes chords a little purer than a piano does. Here each note is sung on "oo" by its own voice, tuned like a piano, so you hear chords as voices make them.
How long does it take to hear chord qualities?
There's no set time. Major and minor usually come first, and the sevenths, especially the half-diminished and diminished 7th, take longer. A few minutes most days works better than long sessions; the level bar shows your last 10 answers.
How do I hear my own note inside a chord?
Play the chord with Up, so its notes come one at a time from the bottom, and sing each one with it. Then play it Together and try to keep hold of one note in the sound. After you answer, the keyboard shows which notes it was.
Does it keep my progress?
Your level and settings stay on this device, so you pick up where you left off. The score and the results by chord are for this visit. Nothing is sent anywhere, and there's no account.
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