Free Chord Finder: The Chords That Go Together in Any Key

If you've ever sat down to write a song and thought "okay, I've got a C chord… now what goes next?", this is the single most useful thing you can learn. Every key has a built-in set of chords that belong together, and once you know how that set is built, you'll never be guessing again. Better still, the rule is identical in all twelve keys — learn it once, use it everywhere.

The payoff up front: in any major key there are seven chords that fit, they come in a fixed pattern of major and minor, and any combination of them will sound at least decent together. That isn't luck; it's how the math works out.

#Why some chords "go together"

A key is a set of seven notes (a scale). The chords that belong to a key — called the diatonic chords — are the ones built only from those seven notes. Because they share the same pool of notes, they automatically agree with each other and with any melody written in that key. That shared DNA is the entire reason they sound good in sequence.

You build each chord by stacking notes from the scale: start on a scale note, skip one, take the next, skip one, take the next. Three notes, every other one. Do that starting on each of the seven notes and you get the seven chords of the key.

#The pattern (this is the whole thing)

Here's the part worth memorizing. In every major key, the seven chords always come out in this exact order of qualities:

Number	Quality
I	major
ii	minor
iii	minor
IV	major
V	major
vi	minor
vii°	diminished

Musicians write these as Roman numerals: capital = major, lowercase = minor, and the little circle (°) means diminished. So the shape of every major key is:

I – ii – iii – IV – V – vi – vii° → major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished.

That's it. That pattern never changes. Different key, same shape.

#Worked example: C major

C major is the friendly one — no sharps or flats. Apply the pattern and you get:

Number	Quality	Chord in C
I	major	C
ii	minor	Dm
iii	minor	Em
IV	major	F
V	major	G
vi	minor	Am
vii°	diminished	Bdim

So the chords that go together in C are: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim. Pick any of them in any order and you've got something that works. The three you'll lean on most are I (C, "home"), IV (F), and V (G) — they carry the majority of popular music. The vi (Am) is the "relative minor," the moody one you reach for when you want a little ache.

#Finding the chords in any key

To find the seven chords of any major key, you don't memorize twelve separate lists. You do this:

1. Write out the key's major scale (its seven notes, using the W–W–H–W–W–W–H steps if you need to build it from scratch).
2. Apply the quality pattern — major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished — to those seven notes in order.

For example, in G major the scale is G – A – B – C – D – E – F#. Lay the pattern over it:

Number	Quality	Chord in G
I	major	G
ii	minor	Am
iii	minor	Bm
IV	major	C
V	major	D
vi	minor	Em
vii°	diminished	F#dim

Same shape, different letters. And because the numbers stay constant across keys, a progression like I–V–vi–IV is C–G–Am–F in C and G–D–Em–C in G — the exact same song, transposed, just by reading the numbers. That's the superpower the number system gives you, and it's why session players call out "one, four, five" instead of chord names.

#The fast way: let Onomo find them for you

Working out the scale and applying the pattern is great practice, but when you're mid-idea you don't want to do paperwork. Onomo's Chord Palette does the lookup instantly: pick any of the 12 keys and a mode (Major, Minor, plus Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, harmonic and melodic minor), and it lays the in-key chords onto a grid you can play. Every pad is a chord that belongs to the key, so you literally cannot pick a "wrong" chord while you explore.

From there you can:

• Click any pad to hear the chord through a built-in synth, with a few timbres to match the mood.
• Adjust the voicing — octave, inversions, spread — to find the shape you like.
• Borrow a chord from outside the key when you want a surprise, then return home.
• Arrange a progression on a timeline, loop it, and export it as a MIDI file to finish in Studio or any DAW.

So instead of pencil-and-paper, you get the chords that go together, ready to play and ready to drop into a song. If you want to know which of those chords to string together, our guide to chord progressions covers the four progressions that run most of pop, and the chord progression generator walks through building one on the timeline.

#A quick exercise

1. Open the Chord Palette and set it to C Major. Confirm you see C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and the diminished chord — match it to the table above.
2. Play I – IV – V – I (C – F – G – C). Hear how solidly it resolves.
3. Switch the key to A Minor and notice the chords are the same notes, reorganized around a darker home.
4. Try a different key entirely (say E Major) and trust that the same pattern is producing those chords for you.

Do that and the abstract rule turns into something your hands and ears actually know.

#FAQ

Is this free? Yes. The Chord Palette is completely free and runs in your browser. No download, no account required to start.

Do I need to know music theory to use it? No — that's the point. The tool picks the in-key chords for you, so you can write good-sounding progressions without knowing how the pattern works. You'll absorb the theory naturally as you go.

Does it work on my phone? Yes. It runs in a mobile browser, so you can find the chords of any key wherever you are.

Why are there exactly seven chords in a key? Because a key has seven notes, and you build one chord starting on each note. Seven notes, seven chords.

Do these chords work in minor keys too? Yes. Minor keys have their own diatonic set (the pattern shifts because the scale is different). The Chord Palette handles major, minor, and several modes, so just pick the one you want and the right chords appear.