Find the chord.
Feel the intervals.
Start with a tonal center and mode, choose a diatonic chord, then inspect a pitch-tested candidate shape. Notes, intervals and finger positions stay separate so a reduced voicing never pretends to be the whole chord.
1. Set the collection
2. Chord palette
C Ionian · major collection
Diatonic foundations. Explore additional in-scale colors below.
C major · Triad foundation
Candidate shape · adjacent strings · low E at fret 8
Tone anatomy
Separate views prevent omitted tones from becoming implied claims.
Finger placement
| String | Fret | Finger |
|---|
1 index · 2 middle · 3 ring · 4 little finger. Candidate placements, not validated muting instructions.
3. Find a place for the whole progression
The goal: choose one grip for each chord in your progression, then compare how those grips connect. Your written chords stay the same. First decide where on the neck to play; then let the Lab suggest a complete sequence of grips rather than choosing each chord in isolation.
A voicing is a particular way of playing a chord. A voicing path is one chosen grip for every chord occurrence, in order. For Dm7 → G7 → Cmaj7, one path might use three lower-neck grips; another might use higher grips or a different string group. The chord progression is unchanged—only the way you play it changes.
It is not a scale pattern, an automatic chord substitution, or a claim that one fingering is best for your hand.
1. Load your chords → 2. Check or find a fret window → 3. Recommend and inspect a grip sequence → 4. Practice it or save it.
1. Load the chords you want to play
Type the progression below, then choose Load progression. This applies the text; typing alone does not change the active sequence. Use example loads the selected example immediately.
2. Choose where on the neck to play
The playing filters above still apply: string layout, exact string set, open strings, and the applicable shell/inversion choices. These actions check available grips; neither action changes the written chords.
Check my current fret window. Choose a locked Neck position above first—for example, frets 5–8. This checks whether every chord has at least one allowed grip inside that window. It does not choose your complete grip sequence yet, move the window, or freeze a fingering.
Look elsewhere on the neck. Compare windows of the selected width—for example, 4 frets means 5–8, not 5–9. A complete result has at least one grip for every occurrence. Partial results list the missing chords. Choose Use this region to apply a result; searching alone does not move you. Region ranking favors coverage, smaller available spans, then more grip choices; it does not yet compare chord-to-chord transitions.
3. Choose a connected sequence of grips
Compare complete grip sequences using your currently active window and filters. This action does not select a new region—use a locked region first for a focused comparison. It weighs transitions across the whole progression instead of greedily picking the nearest next chord. If Include last → first transition is checked, the return to the beginning is considered too; that setting also lets the bottom progression buttons wrap.
Least movement: primarily favors smaller pitch changes, with lighter preferences for less fret-center movement and notes remaining at the same string/fret.
Consistent strings: adds a stronger penalty when the physical string group changes between chords.
Compact shapes: adds penalties for wider fretted grips and greater fret-center travel. It is not a hand-size model.
What do the heuristic scores actually measure?
A heuristic score is a weighted penalty, not a difficulty rating or a comfort percentage. Lower means a better fit to that profile’s rules among the available candidates. Compare numbers only for the same profile, chord sequence, constraints and loop setting. Different profiles use different weights, so their totals are not a common scale.
- Pitch-matching cost
- Match the sounding pitches, ordered low to high, between neighboring grips. Moving a matched voice costs the number of semitones moved. Leaving a voice unmatched in the comparison costs 4 units per skipped/added voice; this is a musical comparison, not a tracked finger moving between strings.
- Voice-count change
- An additional 4 units for each difference in sounding-note count between neighboring grips. A three-note to four-note change is therefore handled explicitly, not compared as if the grips had identical density.
- Fret-center movement
- The change in average fret number of all sounding notes, including permitted opens. This approximates neck-region travel; it does not measure actual hand movement.
- String-group change
- Count a change when the exact set of sounding physical strings differs. The Consistent strings profile adds 8 units per change; other profiles do not add that particular penalty.
- Retained notes
- A note counts as retained only when it stays at the same string and fret across a transition. A small penalty favors keeping these locations: 0.25 × (the larger grip’s note count minus retained locations). The Lab does not prove that the same finger can stay planted.
- Grip span
- The highest minus lowest fretted note in each grip; open strings are excluded. Compact shapes adds these spans across the chosen grips. A four-fret window and a three-fret span are different measurements.
Weights: all profiles include pitch-matching cost, the extra voice-count penalty and the 0.25 retained-location penalty. Least movement adds 0.25 × fret-center travel; Consistent strings adds 1 × fret-center travel plus 8 × string-group changes; Compact shapes adds 2 × fret-center travel plus the sum of grip spans.
Not measured: validated finger placement, required barres, muting reliability, hand anatomy, physical comfort, tempo or musical taste. Use your guitar to compare the suggestions. For looped paths, transition measures include the final-to-first change; grip spans count each occurrence once.
Selected occurrence
Practice the next move.
Identify a neutral-colored chord shape, or recall the next chord in an original demo. Reveal, then mark Got it or Again. No automatic grading.
What chord comes next?
The next shape is hidden. Say the chord out loud, then reveal.