How to find the chords of any song on Mac

Three ways, compared

1. By ear: how to work out a song's chords

It's slower, but you learn the song, and you can check any finder's answer the same way. You need a keyboard or a guitar.

1. Find the key first. Drop the song into our free key finder, or find the home note by ear (our key and BPM guide shows how).
2. Follow the bass. The bass usually plays each chord's root. Play low notes along with it until they match, and write down where it moves.
3. Major or minor? Over each bass note, play the note three half steps up (minor third), then four (major third). The one that fits names the chord. Not sure what you're playing? Press the notes into our chord finder and it names the chord.
4. Start with the chords of the key. In a major key, four chords do most of the work: the I, IV, V and vi. In C major that's C, F, G and Am. Try those first. If the chords you wrote down sit too high or low for your voice, the chord transposer moves them all to a new key at once.
5. Listen for when the chords change. Most pop songs change chord once or twice a bar. Tap along to find the bar (our tap tempo helps).
6. Play it along with the song. If a chord clashes, try its seventh, or the same chord with a different bass note.

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2. Chord finder apps and websites

These listen to the audio and guess the chords. All of them are guesses: check the result by ear.

• Chordify (web, iPhone, Android) shows the chords of popular songs on a timeline. MIDI download needs Premium ($42 a year).
• Moises (web, desktop, iPhone, Android) detects the chords of a file you upload. It's free for the first minute of each song and unlimited with Premium or Pro. It exports chord charts (iReal Pro, MusicXML), not MIDI.
• Chord ai (iPhone and Android) listens through the microphone in real time, or loads a song. There's a free version and a paid full version.
• Capo (Mac and iPhone) finds the beats, chords and key in songs you own, and lets you correct them. Exporting MIDI on the Mac needs Pro ($39.99 a year).
• Logic Pro 12's Chord ID: drop an audio region on the Chord track and Logic writes the chords there.

The catch: most of these need a file, or a song that's in their catalog. A synth's preset demo, a live stream or a sound from a video usually isn't either.

3. From anything your Mac plays: record it with DOT

DOT is a Mac recorder for producers. It records whatever your Mac is playing and finds each clip's key, tempo and a chord for every half bar, so it works on anything you can play: a YouTube video, a Spotify song, a preset demo.

1. Open DOT and leave the source on All Mac audio, or pick the app that's playing.
2. Press ⌘R, let the part play, and press ⌘R again.
3. The clip lands trimmed, with its key, tempo and chords on the grid.
4. Press ⌘E and choose Save chords as MIDI, or drag the clip into your DAW.

The MIDI file holds block chords on the beat, at the clip's tempo, with a bass note under each one. DOT names major, minor, seventh and diminished chords, so a Cm9 comes out as Cm7. Like every chord finder, it's a starting point: play the chords back and trust your ears.

Why chord finders disagree

• Bigger chords get simplified. A Cm9 or a sus chord is often written as Cm7 or a plain triad.
• The bass note changes the name. C with E in the bass (C/E) can be read as Em or C.
• Passing chords are short. A chord that lasts half a beat can be missed or merged with the next.
• Two keys share the same notes. C major and A minor have the same chords, so the key, and the chord names that follow it, can flip.

Use what you have the right to use

Working out a song's chords is fine for learning it, practicing and writing your own music over a progression. Before a recording or a melody from someone else's song goes into a release, clear it with whoever owns it.

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