A chord is easier to learn when you can see it and hear it.

ChordVisual is an independent guitar chord library. It started with a simple frustration: most chord charts are static pictures. You cannot hear the chord, you cannot check a single string, and when it buzzes you are left guessing.

This site adds the two missing pieces: a clean diagram with finger numbers, and a play button. Every chord page also explains the fingering order, the usual mistakes, and one practice drill. Tools like the chord finder, change trainer, capo chart and circle of fifths are free and require no account.

What we do

• Show standard open and barre chord shapes with finger numbers.
• Let you hear a strum and an arpeggio in the browser.
• Explain why a chord buzzes and how to fix it.
• Keep the tools usable without a signup, email or paywall.

What we do not do

• No song tabs, chord-over-lyric pages or copyrighted notation.
• No “best guitar under $500” gear lists or affiliate-first reviews.
• No account, no upload of your playing, no microphone access.
• No claim that thirty days makes you a guitarist. Practice takes longer.

How chord shapes are built

The open and barre shapes are standard voicings. Each diagram is generated from the same chord data that produces the audio, so the notes and the picture stay in sync. Finger numbers are included so a beginner can reproduce the shape without guessing.

Audio is generated in the browser. The primary voice uses acoustic guitar samples from the FluidR3_GM soundfont (MIT, Frank Wen), played through smplr. If the samples cannot load, a synthesized plucked-string fallback is used. We do not lift recordings from songs or other sites.

Corrections

If a diagram is wrong, a fingering is ambiguous, or a chord page contradicts what you hear, tell us. Corrections are more useful than praise. The aim is a reference a beginner can trust, not a perfect encyclopedia.