Chord quality ear training
Is it major, minor, diminished or augmented? Train the colours of chords, then add sevenths when you are ready.
Press Play and listen
Settings
Chord types
How chords are played
How the drill works
Press Play and you hear one chord on a random root. Choose its type. In Settings you choose between the four triads and all nine chord types, and whether the notes sound together or one by one. Broken chords are easier at first, because you can hear each note arrive.
Shortcuts: Space or Enter plays the question again, and the number keys 1–9 pick the answers in order.
The chord types and how they sound
| Chord type | Formula | What it sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Major | 1 3 5 | Bright, settled, happy |
| Minor | 1 ♭3 5 | Darker and softer; sad or serious |
| Diminished | 1 ♭3 ♭5 | Squeezed and tense |
| Augmented | 1 3 ♯5 | Floating, eerie, unresolved |
| Dominant 7th | 1 3 5 ♭7 | Bluesy; pulls towards the next chord |
| Major 7th | 1 3 5 7 | Lush, dreamy, a little jazzy |
| Minor 7th | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 | Mellow, smooth and relaxed |
| Half-diminished | 1 ♭3 ♭5 ♭7 | Dark and searching; leads to a minor chord |
| Diminished 7th | 1 ♭3 ♭5 𝄫7 | Very tense and dramatic |
Practice tips
Begin with major against minor only. Many players hear major as bright or happy and minor as dark or sad. Use whatever words work for you, but stay with those two until you get almost every answer right, then add diminished and augmented.
For seventh chords, listen to the top note first. The dominant seventh has a bluesy edge that wants to move on; the major seventh sounds soft and dreamy, with a gentle rub between the top note and the root; the minor seventh is mellow and calm.
Common mix-ups
Diminished and augmented are both unsettled, but in different ways: diminished sounds squeezed and dark, augmented sounds stretched and floating. The half-diminished and the diminished seventh are close cousins; the diminished seventh is more dramatic, the half-diminished a little sadder and softer.
Your score
Your streak, best streak and accuracy over the last 100 answers are saved in this browser only, separately for each drill. The small line shows how your accuracy moves in blocks of ten answers. Nothing is sent to us, and the reset link wipes the score for this drill.