Fretboard Distillery

Paste chord/lyric text, open a file (.txt, .docx, .cho, .chordpro, .fba), or try the demo. Chords go on the line above lyrics.

Pick the Key the audience hears, then the Shape Key your fingers play. Capo auto-calculates. Or nudge capo manually.

Toggle to replace chords with scale-degree numbers (1, 4, 5⁻, etc.). Numbers stay the same in every key. Full NNS reference table in the ☰ menu.

Click the button, click any chord, then arrow keys or Space/Backspace to slide it over the correct syllable.

Each chord shows a fretboard diagram. Common chords include a simpler alternative that's easier to play.

A compact roadmap showing just section names and chord progressions — no lyrics. Available in Performance Mode and Print Preview. Use 📋 Copy to paste it into any document.

Save as .txt (editable document with chords and lyrics) or .fba (project file with all settings). Reopen .fba files from the Open File tab.

Auto-fits to fewest pages. Choose 1 or 2 columns, font size (9–12pt), spacing. Options for chord diagrams and sparse chart mode.

Fullscreen chord sheet with auto-scroll (15-sec countdown to get ready), adjustable speed, optional metronome with BPM control, sparse chart toggle, and copy to clipboard.

Paste a chord sheet directly into the input area — chords go on the line above the lyrics they belong to. Section labels like [Verse] and [Chorus] help organize the chart.

From a website? On the chord site, select the chords and lyrics, copy them (Ctrl+C / Cmd+C), and paste into Fretboard Distillery. We automatically clean up formatting from sites like Ultimate Guitar.

You can also open files: .txt, .docx (Word), .cho / .chordpro (ChordPro), or .fba (previously saved from this tool).

Key is what the audience hears — set this to match the original song or your singer's range.

Play Shapes In is the chord family your fingers actually play. If you're comfortable with G, C, D, Em shapes, pick G. The tool calculates the capo position automatically.

Why this matters: A song in the key of Bb is tough to play without barre chords. But if you set Shapes to G and Key to Bb, the tool tells you: capo on fret 3, play your familiar G shapes. Same sound, easier hands.

✎ Edit Positions: Click any chord and use arrow keys or Space/Backspace to slide it left or right, lining it up precisely over the syllable where the chord change happens.

♯ Nashville: Toggles chord names to scale-degree numbers. Useful when your band leader calls out numbers instead of chord names.

☰ Sparse: Shows a compact roadmap — just section names and chord progressions, no lyrics. Great when you know the words and just need the changes.

▶ Performance Mode: Fullscreen chord sheet with auto-scroll. Hit Play and a 15-second countdown gives you time to grab your guitar. Adjust speed with +/−. Turn on the metronome for a click track — it starts immediately when you hit Play so you can count in.

🖨 Print: Opens a smart preview that auto-fits your song to the fewest pages. Choose 1 or 2 columns, font size, and whether to include chord diagrams or a sparse chart.

💾 Save: Click Save to choose your format — .txt exports an editable document with your transposed chords and lyrics, while .fba saves the full project (key, capo, position edits, everything) so you can reopen it later from the Open File tab.

Most popular songs use the same relationships between chords, just in different keys. These relationships are numbered 1 through 7 (the Nashville Number System):

1 = home base (the key chord)
4 = the lift (feels like rising)
5 = the tension (wants to resolve back to 1)
6 = the emotional one (minor, pulls at heartstrings)

In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D, 6=Em ← New guitarists normally learn these chords first!
In the key of C: 1=C, 4=F, 5=G, 6=Am
In the key of D: 1=D, 4=G, 5=A, 6=Bm

Same pattern, different starting point. Once you hear 1-4-5-6 in one key, you'll recognize it everywhere.

Try it: Toggle Nashville Numbers on a loaded song. Watch how the same numbers appear regardless of which key you transpose to.

Before you start learning chords, you need to know how guitarists number their fretting hand fingers. This is universal — every chord chart, lesson, and diagram uses it:


●1 Index   ●2 Middle   ●3 Ring   ●4 Pinky   T Thumb (rarely used for fretting)

These are the same colors you'll see in all the chord diagrams throughout Fretboard Distillery. When a diagram shows a green dot labeled 3, that means your ring finger goes there. Once you internalize this numbering, reading chord diagrams becomes instant.

These four chords — G, Cadd9, D, and Em — are the 1, 4, 5, and 6 in the key of G. Learn them and you can play hundreds of songs. The secret? A clever finger pattern that minimizes hand movement between chords.

Step 1: G Major (4 fingers)

●1 Index: A string, fret 2   ●2 Middle: low E, fret 3   ●3 Ring: B string, fret 3   ●4 Pinky: high E, fret 3   D and G strings open

Step 2: Cadd9 — Move only two fingers!

●1 Index: D string, fret 2   ●2 Middle: A string, fret 3   ●3 Ring: B/fret 3 (stays!)   ●4 Pinky: high E/fret 3 (stays!)   Skip low E


Step 3: Add D — Your ring finger is the anchor

●1 Index: G string, fret 2   ●2 Middle: high E, fret 2   ●3 Ring: B/fret 3 (still the anchor!)   Open D string


Step 4: Add Em — Your first full progression!

●2 Middle: A string, fret 2   ●3 Ring: D string, fret 2   All other strings open — just two fingers!

Once you're comfortable with G, Cadd9, D, and Em, it's time to add the key of C. The 1-4-5-6 in C is: C, F, G, Am. You already know G! That means you only need three new shapes — and the pivot technique you learned makes them easy.

Step 1: Am and C — Your first pair

Am (x02210) — just two fingers plus your ring finger:

●1 Index: B string, fret 1   ●2 Middle: D string, fret 2   ●3 Ring: G string, fret 2   Skip low E, high E open

C major (x32010) — looks a lot like Am!

●1 Index: B string, fret 1 (stays!)   ●2 Middle: D string, fret 2 (stays!)   ●3 Ring: A string, fret 3   Skip low E


Step 2: Add Fmaj7 — The beginner-friendly F
F major is traditionally a barre chord — the #1 reason beginners quit. But Fmaj7 (xx3210) sounds beautiful and uses the same pivot concept:


●1 Index: B string, fret 1 (stays!)   ●2 Middle: G string, fret 2   ●3 Ring: D string, fret 3   High E open


Step 3: Add G — You already know this one!
You learned G in the key of G section. Now it's doing double duty as the 5 chord in the key of C. No new shape to learn — just plug it into the progression.

Music uses only 12 notes, then they repeat. In order:

A → A#/Bb → B → C → C#/Db → D → D#/Eb → E → F → F#/Gb → G → G#/Ab → (back to A)

Notice two spots where there's no sharp/flat between them: B→C and E→F. These are only one fret apart on guitar. Every other pair is two frets apart. This is why the Key dropdown looks the way it does — it's the complete set of notes.

Try it: Look at the Key dropdown. Count from A to A# — that's 1 fret (1 semitone). Count from B to C — also 1 fret. But A to B is 2 frets.

Now that you know the 12 notes, let's see where they live on the guitar. We'll start with String 6 (the thickest string, low E) — this is the one closest to your face when you hold the guitar.

The open string is E. Each fret moves one note up through the pattern you just learned. Here are the whole notes (no sharps or flats):


● whole notes   ● E→F and B→C (no fret between them!)   ● octave — same note, 12 frets higher

Notice how the E→F and B→C gaps from the 12 Notes section show up here — they're only 1 fret apart (shown in orange), while every other whole note is 2 frets apart. That's the pattern in action on a real string.

At fret 12, you're back to E — one octave higher. The whole pattern repeats from there.

The same pattern continues on String 5 (A)
String 5 is tuned to A, so the same sequence of whole notes starts from A:


Same rules apply: B→C and E→F are always 1 fret apart. Everything else is 2.

See the pattern? Every string follows the same 12-note sequence — it just starts on a different note. String 6 starts on E, String 5 starts on A, and so on.

A capo clamps across all six strings at a fret, raising everything by that many semitones. It's like moving the guitar's nut up the neck.

Capo on fret 2 = everything sounds 2 semitones higher. Your G shape now sounds like an A. Your C shape sounds like D. Your D shape sounds like E.

That's all transposing is — shifting every chord by the same number of semitones. The capo does it mechanically so your fingers don't have to learn new shapes.

Try it: Load a song, set Shapes to G, then change the Key and watch the capo number change. Each step in the key = one more fret on the capo.

Guitar-friendly keys (G, C, D, A, E) have lots of open chord shapes — your fingers use open strings, which sound full and are easy to play.

Keys like Bb, Eb, Ab, and F don't have natural open shapes. They traditionally require barre chords — pressing your index finger across all six strings. Barre chords are hard for beginners and tiring for everyone.

The solution: use a capo to convert any key into one with open shapes. That's the whole point of the Play Shapes In selector — you pick the easy shapes, and the tool figures out where to put the capo.

Try it: Set Key to Bb (a hard key). Now set Shapes to G. The tool says Capo 3 — and all your chords are familiar G-family shapes.

Barre chords are the #1 reason beginners get frustrated. The good news: there's almost always an easier voicing that sounds just as good.

F → Fmaj7 (xx3210) — Drop the barre completely. Beautiful, dreamy sound. Nobody in the audience will know the difference.

Bm → Bm7 (x20202) — Completely open, no barre. Works great for strumming.

B → B7 (x21202) — Open voicing with a nice bluesy pull. Perfect as a V chord.

Bb → use a capo! If a song uses Bb, set Shapes to A and Capo 1, or Shapes to G and Capo 3. Problem solved.

F#m → F#m7 (202200) — Open voicing, no barre needed.

C#m → C#m7 (x42000) — Partial shape, no barre.

Fretboard Distillery flags barre chords automatically and suggests easier alternatives in the chord diagram section below your song. Look for the green "→ try" suggestions.

The big insight: Barre chords exist to move open shapes up the neck. But if you have a capo, the capo does that job for you. Pick easy shapes, let the capo handle the rest.

Every key has a "family" of 7 chords that naturally sound good together. Three are major (bright), three are minor (moody), and one is diminished (tense, rarely used):

Major chords: 1, 4, 5 (the backbone)
Minor chords: 2m, 3m, 6m (the color)
Diminished: 7dim (the spice — used sparingly)

In the key of G: G(1), Am(2m), Bm(3m), C(4), D(5), Em(6m), F#dim(7dim)

This is why G, C, D, and Em show up together so often — they're family. The Nashville Number Table in the ☰ menu shows every chord family for all 12 keys.

Try it: Open the Nashville Number Table from the menu. Find the key of your song and see which chords "belong." You'll notice most songs stick to 1, 4, 5, and 6.