Piano Diagram Generator — Chord Progression Charts

The piano diagram generator turns a chord progression into keyboard images. In The Ultimate Piano's Progression Generator you start from a built-in progression, type your own, or build it chord by chord from a search — and every chord comes back as a picture with note names and the inversion you chose, with fingering numbers if you want them. Next to each chord you see its scale degree in the key, you can play the whole progression back with a metronome, and when it is ready you download the pictures — one at a time or all at once as a ZIP — or open the progression as a lead sheet.

Generate complete chord charts for any progression in all 12 keys — ready to use in teaching materials or music books.

On this page

How to Open the Diagram Generator

Open the Progression Generator from the Create menu in the header.

Keyboard Shortcut: Press Ctrl+Shift+D (or Cmd+Shift+D on Mac) to open or close it. Esc closes it as well.

Your chords — including every change you made to them — the key, the tempo and the loop setting are kept when you close the window or reload the app, so you can pick up where you left off.

Creating a Chord Progression Chart

1. Set the Key

The key sits in its own row at the top, above everything else, because it applies to everything: to the progressions you generate and to the scale degree shown next to every chord. It starts on C major, so you can generate right away.

To change it, click the key button to open the Circle of Fifths — an interactive wheel showing all major and minor keys. Click the outer ring for major keys or the inner ring for minor keys. The Circle of Fifths also shows the key signature in a staff preview, so you can check you picked the right key.

2. Start From a Progression

From Presets:
Select a preset progression from the dropdown. Progressions are grouped by genre:

Or type it yourself in the text field — in one of two ways:

• Roman numerals, resolved in the selected key. The way you write a numeral sets the chord: uppercase is a major chord, lowercase a minor chord, and a suffix adds to it:

- I IV V I — in C major: C, F, G, C - ii V I — Dm, G, C - ii7 V7 Imaj7 — with sevenths where you want them - vii° is the diminished chord (Bdim in C major) and iiø7 the half-diminished seventh; vii without ° is a minor chord (Bm), because lowercase means minor - + makes it augmented (I+ = Caug); chords without a third, such as Isus4 or isus4, work in either case - bVI bVII I — a b (or ♭) lowers the chord a half step: Ab, Bb, C - V/V and V7/vi — secondary chords: in C major you get D and E7 - I/3 — a bass note as a scale degree of the key: C/E - in a minor key the numerals count from the minor tonic: i iv V in G minor gives Gm, Cm, D, and vii° is built on the raised seventh (G#dim in A minor) - A numeral whose case contradicts its suffix, such as IIm7, Vm7 or I°, is not recognized — write ii7, v7 or i° instead

• Chord symbols, used exactly as written: Am F C G. Slash chords work too: if the bass note belongs to the chord, as in C/E, you get the matching inversion; if it doesn't, as in C/D or F/G, the bass note is added below the chord. You can also give the inversion as a number after a colon: F:1 is the first inversion, Cmaj7:3 the third. A German H is read as B.

Separators: spaces, commas, or dashes all work (I-IV-V, I IV V, I,IV,V).

Choosing the octave: add @ and a number from 1 to 7 to put a chord in a specific octave (middle C is C4). The number is the octave of the chord's lowest note — for an inversion, the note at the bottom. With chord symbols it is that octave directly: C@3 is C3–E3–G3, Am7@5 starts on A5, and Bb:2@3 is F3–Bb3–D4. A slash bass such as the D in C/D@3 sits just below the chord. With Roman numerals it is the octave of the key's tonic, and every step sits above it: in G, I@3 starts on G3 and IV@3 on C4, so a numeral progression keeps its shape in every key. If the chord lies outside the keyboard range you have set, the picture simply shows that part of the keyboard. A chord that would go below A0 or above C8 is skipped and named in a short note.

While you type, anything the generator doesn't recognize is listed right below the field, so you can fix a typo before you click Generate. If nothing in the field is recognized, Generate does nothing and the grid stays as it is.

Click Generate (or press Enter in the text field). Each chord gets its own keyboard image tile. Generate always builds a new list — if the grid already holds chords, the app asks before it replaces them, so a progression you built by hand is never lost by accident.

3. Add Chords From the Search

The search on the right lets you build a progression chord by chord. Type a root note and you get every chord type on that root, in every inversion, each as a small keyboard picture with its scale degree in the key:

• F — all chords on F
• Fm7, Bb°, C+, Gmaj — narrow it down with the usual chord shorthand; spellings such as ø7, dom7 or j7 work too
• F@3 — the same results, and the chord you add is placed in octave 3
• The type filter next to the search shows only triads, sevenths and sixths, extended chords, or altered chords

Then:

• Click a result to add it at the end of the grid, or
• Drag it into the grid — onto the free dashed slot at the end, or next to an existing chord to insert it right there. On the iPad you drag with your finger, and the chord is shown under it while you move.

The chord is then drawn on the keyboard like every other tile, with all the same options.

4. Arrange the Grid

• Reorder: grab a tile by its title bar (the dotted handle on the left) or by its keyboard picture and drag it to a new position.
• Remove: click the × in the tile's corner.
• Change a chord: use the dropdowns on the tile (see below).

5. Listen to the Progression

The playback bar sits above the grid:

• Play / Pause and Stop, plus Loop to repeat the progression (off by default)
• Metronome — the metronome button next to Play opens a small window: switch the metronome on, pick a plain click or a drum groove that fits the time signature, and turn on Count-in to hear one bar before the first chord. The button lights up while the metronome is on.
• Tempo & time — set the tempo from 30–240 BPM with the slider or by typing it, and choose one of 4 time signatures (4/4, 3/4, 6/8 or 2/4). The tempo can be changed while the progression is playing.

Each chord lasts one bar and changes on the downbeat. The tile that is sounding is highlighted, so you can follow along. Editing the progression while it plays stops the playback.

6. Export the Progression

Next to the playback controls, the Export group works on the whole progression:

• Leadsheet opens the progression as a new sheet in the Leadsheet Editor — one chord per bar, with the key, tempo and time signature you set here. If you started from a preset, the section is named after it. If the Leadsheet Editor holds a sheet with unsaved changes, the app asks first.
• ZIP downloads all chord diagrams at once as PNG images in one ZIP file, numbered in the order of the grid. It becomes available as soon as every diagram has been drawn.

Scale Degrees Next to Every Chord

Every chord shows its scale degree in the selected key in brackets — on the tiles and in the search results. In C major you read Dm (ii), G7 (V7), Bdim (vii°) — and also chords from outside the key, such as Bb (bVII) or Ab (bVI). Change the key and all degrees update. A chord you typed as a Roman numeral keeps what you typed, e.g. D (V/V) or C/E (I/3), and when you change a tile's chord type the degree follows it.

This is where the generator helps with understanding, not just drawing: you see at once which function a chord has in the key, and why a borrowed chord such as bVII sounds the way it does. To look at each chord quality on its own, open Learning Mode.

Customizing Your Chord Voicing Chart

Each tile shows:

• Chord symbol with its scale degree in brackets (e.g., "Dm (ii)")
• Keyboard image with highlighted keys and note names, plus fingering numbers once you pick a hand
• Play button — click to hear the chord in its octave. If it lies outside the keys you see, you hear it without the keys lighting up
• Five dropdowns for customization:

Progressions from the presets and from Roman numerals are generated as triads unless you add a suffix (like V7). The Quality dropdown sets exactly the quality you pick — choosing "7" on a tile makes it a dominant seventh on that root. Changing any dropdown instantly redraws that tile.

Download

Click Download PNG below any tile to save it as a high-resolution image, rendered at 2x resolution by default. To save the whole progression in one go, use ZIP in the playback bar. Perfect for teaching materials, presentations, or social media. For more export options — JPG, WebP, and 1x/2x/3x/4x resolution presets — see the Capture feature.

Chord Chart Generator — Use Cases

• Piano Teachers — Generate chord charts for lessons in seconds, and play the progression to students before handing out the sheet
• Music Theory Students — See the scale degree of every chord, hear the progression, then practice it in Learning Mode
• Songwriters — Try out a progression chord by chord, including borrowed chords, listen to it at your tempo, and continue in the Leadsheet Editor
• Content Creators — Create consistent keyboard diagrams for tutorials
• Book Authors — Generate consistent, print-ready chord diagrams and download a whole progression as one ZIP

Tips

• Transpose a preset — Change the key and click Generate again
• Mix both ways — Generate a preset, then drag extra chords from the search between them
• Custom voicings — Use the quality and inversion dropdowns to customize individual chords
• Fingering — Switch the hand dropdown to RH or LH to add fingering numbers to a chord
• Bass lines — Use the bass dropdown for slash chords like C – C/B – C/Bb over a descending bass
• From chart to song — Click Leadsheet to continue with lyrics, sections and print layouts in the Leadsheet Editor
• Quick workflow — Pick a preset → Generate → Play → ZIP. Done in seconds.

For manual diagram creation with full control over individual keys, colors, and layout, use Toggle Mode with Capture. To write a full song chart with chords, lyrics, and sections, use the Leadsheet Editor.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the chord chart generator work?

Open the Progression Generator in The Ultimate Piano. The key starts on C major; change it from the Circle of Fifths if you need another. Then choose a preset progression, type your own with Roman numerals (like ii V I) or chord symbols (like Am F C G), and click Generate — or build the progression chord by chord from the chord search. Each chord is displayed as a keyboard image with note names, and fingering numbers if you pick a hand, ready to download as PNG.

How do I write Roman numerals?

Uppercase numerals are major chords and lowercase numerals minor chords: ii V I in C major gives Dm, G, C. Add a suffix for sevenths (ii7 V7 Imaj7), use vii° for a diminished chord and iiø7 for a half-diminished seventh — vii without ° is a minor chord. A b lowers a chord (bVII), V/V is a secondary dominant, and I/3 puts the third of the key in the bass. A numeral whose case contradicts its suffix, like IIm7, is not recognized.

Can I create slash chords?

Yes. Type them as chord symbols, like C/E or F/G, or pick a note in a tile's bass dropdown. If the bass note is part of the chord you get the matching inversion; otherwise the bass note is added below the chord, in the picture and in playback. In the dropdown every one of the 12 notes works as the bass, even the root: C/C adds a C one octave below the chord.

Can I download chord chart images?

Yes. Click Download PNG below any chord tile to save it as a high-resolution image, or click ZIP in the playback bar to download all diagrams of the progression at once, numbered in order. Downloads are rendered at 2x resolution — ideal for teaching materials, books, and presentations. For higher-resolution exports, use the Capture feature.

Can I turn a chord progression chart into a lead sheet?

Yes. Click Leadsheet in the playback bar and the progression opens as a new sheet in the Leadsheet Editor, one chord per bar, with the key, tempo and time signature from the generator. There you can add lyrics and sections and print or export it.

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