Chord Atlas

A free browser tool that lists every chord a scale or raga can build — for composers, arrangers, and students harmonising Indian or Western melodies. No sign-up; install it and it works offline. Choose a Western scale, one of the 72 melakartas or their janyas, or a Hindustani thaat or raga, then a root or Sa. Chord Atlas shows the notes on a keyboard and finds every triad, suspended chord, seventh, sixth and ninth whose tones all sit inside them — from the ascent, the descent, both, or the parent scale with borrowed notes marked. Tap a key to add or remove a note and the list updates; tap a chord to hear it together, rolled or strummed over an optional tanpura drone.

How to use Chord Atlas

1. Choose a note system — Western scale, Carnatic raga or Hindustani raga — then a root or Sa.
2. Pick a scale from the list, or search a raga by name, alias or mela number.
3. For a raga, choose whether chords come from its ascent, its descent, both, or its parent scale.
4. Tap keys on the keyboard to add or remove notes; the amber key is your home note.
5. Press View chords, filter by family or to chords containing Sa, and tap any chord to hear it.
6. Use Play all to step through the list, and turn on the drone to hear each chord against Sa.

Frequently asked questions

How does it decide which chords belong to a raga?

A chord is listed when every one of its notes is in the raga’s note set — nothing more. Five-note ragas therefore give short, honest lists, often heavy on suspended and power chords, because the thirds a triad needs are not always there.

What does “Parent” do?

It builds chords from the raga’s parent scale — the melakarta for a Carnatic janya, the thaat for a Hindustani raga — plus the raga’s own notes. Chords that use a note the raga leaves out are marked as borrowed, so you can hear where the harmony starts to pull away from the raga.

Why are ascent and descent separate?

Many ragas climb and fall on different notes. Saveri goes up on S R₁ M₁ P D₁ and comes down through G₃ and N₃ as well, so its ascent and descent build different chords.

Is anything sent to a server?

No. The chord search runs in your browser. The piano and tanpura are recordings cached on your device after first use, and your choices are kept in this browser’s local storage.