Clarity

Problem, then the work, then the outcome. In that order.

Launched Designer and developer · 2026

Chord Sketch.

Hum a tune and hear it back with chords. A small, playful tool for the moment a melody shows up and there's no keyboard near.

Chord Sketch, ready to listen: a soft white dial with a microphone, ringed by fine tick marks, and the words Hum or sing.

  1. 01The problem

    Tunes rarely show up at a good time. They come in the car, on the walk home from church, or just before sleep. By the time I'm at a keyboard, the melody is half gone, and working out the chords takes longer than the idea deserves.

    Most music apps ask you to know theory first, or to sign up first. I wanted something you can open, hum into and hear back straight away.

  2. 02What I did

    I built it as one small web page that runs entirely in the browser. The microphone listens for one note at a time and turns your humming into notes. If the mic is off or the room is loud, you can tap the tune on the keys instead, or start from a sample.

    From the notes it works out the key, then picks one chord per bar: the chord that fits the tune best, nudged towards moves that sound natural. You choose a style. Simple gives plain chords. Pop adds a broken-chord groove. Gospel adds richer chords, a walking bass and passing chords where the tune leaves room, the way I'd play it on a Sunday. Tap any chord to try another, then press play. As it plays, the keyboard lights up the notes of each chord, so you can see the shape your hands would make. If the song sits too high or too low for the singer, move it up or down a key and everything follows. A metronome counts you in and keeps you in time, and a sustain switch works like a piano pedal.

    The look is soft and quiet, like a phone app: one round dial to hum into, big thin numbers, and three colour themes to pick from.

  3. 03The outcome

    It works on a phone or a laptop, with nothing to install and no account. Nothing you sing is recorded or sent anywhere: only the notes are kept, and only while the page is open.

    It's a sketchpad, not a teacher. It gives you a good starting point in seconds, and your own ears take it from there.

A tune in G major in the Gospel style: eight bars of chords such as Gmaj9, D9 and Am9, with passing chords like A9 and E9, and the notes of the tune drawn under each chord.

Gospel style. Richer chords, with passing chords where the tune leaves room. Tap any chord to hear another option.

The same tune in the Simple style and the Night theme: G, D, G, Am, G, Am, D, G, one chord per bar above the notes.

Simple style, in the Night theme. Three colour themes, one tap apart.