Mandolin Chord Generator

Find the chords You want to play!

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Link to this page

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Chord Tones
Root Note
Chord Name
Tuning
7th Extensions
Additions
Alterations
Options

Using the Mando Chord Generator

Get started by using these great settings!

Super easy 2-finger C Major chord shapes
Super easy 2-finger G Major chord shapes
Great strummable E7 chord shapes
Beautifully voiced high Gmajadd9 chord shapes

The Mando Chord Generator is a great little tool for finding the chords you want to play, or finding chords you never thought existed! It's also great for finding interesting ways of playing lead chord lines. For example, soloing over Gmajor, the generator can help you find great voicings to alternatively play. Try playing between the last 2 chords generated here

I've spent hours going through beautiful chord voicings that I never dreamed of, and you can too with a few simple clicks.

Chord Tones

Shows you the current notes in the chord. If selecting a custom chord, use the pull down menu to select up to 4 notes. Note that the Mando Chord Generator will only generate chords with up to four notes (since mandolin family instruments only have four strings!). Some notes are optional (mainly the 5th in 7th and above chords) and are ignored if there are too many notes. However, some chords just aren't playable on the mandolin. If playing with another muscians (e.g. bass), you can often remove the bass note. If in doubt, experiment to get the best sounding chord!

Root Note

Select the root of the chord here. Use the sharp and flat checkboxes to sharpen and flatten the root note. The 'Fix Fix root as lowest note' checkbox ensures that the lowest note on the mandolin is always the root (so that slash chords are not generated).

Chord Name

Select the basic chord name here.

Tuning

Many common and standard tunings are listed here, or you can chose your own tuning.

Extensions, Alterations & Additions

Add further flavour to your chords by altering them here.

Options

Minimum and maximum frets can be chosen to chose how high up the neck chords go. You can also select how wide chords can be in terms of finger stretch. Obviously, a stretch of 24 frets is unplayable, but maybe not if you chose to arpegiate the chord.

You can also chose to hide certain chords. For example, if you don't like playing barre chords, you can disable them. Another great feature is the ability to find "easy" chords. Try disabled 3 and 4 finger chords, and decreasing the chord stretch to 3 frets. Great for easy-to-strum major chords!