chords-db

This is a javascript database of string instruments chords. Open, free to use, easily improved with more chords. Contributions are welcomed, still a lot of chords (and instruments) missing. Use the pull request feature of Github to add your desired chords if you want to contribute.

Live demo

Browse the chord diagrams interactively:

https://elparaquecosadeque.github.io/chords-db/

Guitar, ukulele, and piano — pick a key and explore every chord position.

Install

npm install @gblp/chords-db

Usage

import { guitar, ukulele, piano, instruments } from '@gblp/chords-db';

// all chord positions for C major on guitar
const cMajor = guitar.chords.C.find(c => c.suffix === 'major');
console.log(cMajor.positions);

// instrument metadata
console.log(guitar.main);    // { strings: 6, fretsOnChord: 4, name: 'guitar' }
console.log(guitar.keys);    // ['C', 'C#', 'D', ...]
console.log(guitar.suffixes); // ['major', 'minor', ...]

// instruments summary (chord counts)
console.log(instruments); // { guitar: { ... }, ukulele: { ... }, piano: { ... } }

You can also import the JSON files directly:

import guitar from '@gblp/chords-db/lib/guitar.json' with { type: 'json' };

For example, let's take a look at the Dsus2 chords of guitar. We can see this information in the D/sus2.js file:

export default {
  key: 'D',
  suffix: 'sus2',
  positions: [{
    frets: '0320xx',
    fingers: '031000'
  },
  {
    frets: '55775x',
    fingers: '114310',
    barres: 5,
    capo: true
  }]
}

Each position define a new chord variation of the Dsus2 chord. We must define the frets needed to obtain the chord in the respective strings. We can define too the fingers information for easy reading of the chord. If the chord need to barre some string, we will define if in the barre field. If you want the barre be represented with capo, you can define the "capo" property too.

How to build/contribute

This project uses npm as package manager. Three basic commands

npm run build

Generates a new version of the library when new chords are added.

npm test

Make some testing of the new added chords. Very useful to detect basic mistakes.

How to use

All this information is packed in a JSON library, that you can use to render visually with a utility able to parse this information.

The chords-ui/ directory in this repo is an Angular 22 app that renders interactive chord diagrams — it's what powers the live demo above.

To run it locally:

cd chords-ui
npm install
npm start