PitchCraft › Guides
Find the chords, key and tempo of any song from the audio
Upload a song to PitchCraft, switch on chord detection, and you get the key, the tempo in BPM and a chord ribbon that runs above the pitch graph in time with the music, with the current and the next chord always in view. The chord names follow when you transpose the song, and you can sing over the detected harmony with the chord tones highlighted on the graph.
What chord detection gives you
Detection is an option of AI stem separation: tick it before you separate and the analysis runs alongside. The result is not a static chord sheet but a timeline. As the song plays, the ribbon above the graph scrolls with the beat, the header shows the chord sounding now and the one coming next, and the detected key and tempo sit beside the song name.
Simple triads or the full vocabulary
You can view the chords as simplified triads, which is what most singers and beginning guitarists want, or switch to the full vocabulary with sevenths and suspended chords. The underlying analysis is the same; the switch only changes how much detail is shown.
Where it is accurate and where it simplifies
Chord detection works best on songs with a clear harmony: guitar or piano accompaniment, bass that outlines the roots, a steady tempo. On dense arrangements, fast changes or heavily layered production it may simplify a passing chord or miss an extension. Treat the output the way you would treat a chord chart from the internet: right most of the time, worth checking by ear where it sounds odd.
Chords that follow your transposition
Shift the song up or down by semitones to fit your voice and every chord name is recalculated, so the chart you see always matches what you hear. This is the version to give a guitarist who accompanies you in your key.
Sing over the chords
The detected chords feed the Sing to chords exercises: mute the original vocal, and the graph highlights the tones of the chord that is sounding while you sing your own line over the real track. The report then tells you how much of the time you sat on chord tones, colour tones or outside the harmony.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work on any genre?
It works on anything with recognisable harmony, and best on pop, rock, folk, singer-songwriter and jazz standards with a clear accompaniment. Purely percussive or heavily distorted material gives less reliable results.
Can I export a chord sheet?
Not as a file. The chords are shown in the app in time with the song, which for practice is more useful than a list; you can read them off while the song plays.
Does it detect the key and tempo too?
Yes. The key and the tempo in BPM are shown next to the song after separation, and the chord ribbon is aligned to the detected beats.
Is chord detection free?
It comes with stem separation and does not cost extra. Separation itself has a free allowance of 3 songs per 7 days; Pro and credit packs add more.
What if a chord is wrong?
Switch to simplified triads, which are more robust, or check the passage by ear with the bass stem soloed. Detection is an aid, not a transcription service, and dense passages can be simplified.