Chordle is modelled on the popular game Wordle, so if you know Wordle you should understand Chordle quickly.
In this game, you must think of the chord as a word, where each letter represents a note. Going from left to right, the notes increase in pitch.
There are different versions of the game, summarized in this table:
| Notes in the chord |
|
| User Interface |
|
In all cases the screen has three basic elements:
This is the piano version ...
and this is the guitar version ...
You can switch between these two versions using the guitar symbol or the piano symbol on the toolbar.
The first thing to do, is to listen to the chord, by clicking on the Play Chord button.
When you click on this button, you should hear the notes of the chord played one after each other, on a piano or an guitar, depending on the current user interface.
If the notes are played on a piano, the first note is in the range C3 to B3, which is the octave below middle C, so it is one of the twelve notes shown below:
If the notes are played on a guitar, the first not is in the range E2 to D#3, where E2 is the lowest note on guitar in standard tuning, which are the notes shown below.
After listening to the chord, you can try to guess the notes in the chord, and enter them in one of the following ways:
You can enter notes using the Piano keyboard with a mouse or a touch screen, simply by clicking on or by touching the key.
The note is entered immediately and appears in the main grid.
You can enter notes using the Guitar fretboard with a mouse of a touch screen.
Entering notes using the Guitar fretboard is usually a two step process.
First you touch or click on a string at a given fret (or on the nut, for an open string). The selected note is then shown on the fretboard, in a white circle.
You can enter the note into the chord, using the select button below the fretboard. The note will then be coloured pink and entered into the main grid.
That is the best way if you are using a touch screeen with your fingers, because it is easy to select the wrong note. However, there are several other ways to enter the note:
The note will be shown on the fretboard until you have completed the chord and submitted it using the Enter key.
You can also enter notes using the computer keyboard, using the letters A to G.
Use the SHIFT key to enter flat notes, and the CONTROL or COMMAND key to enter sharp notes.
For example, use SHIFT-B to enter B♭.
Additional shortcuts are described on the Shortcuts page (which you can also access via the toolbar).
The notes you enter are displayed in the grid.
After you have entered the chord (with 3, 4 or 5 notes, depending on the game) use the enter button, or the Enter-Key on the keyboard, to enter your guess.
The chord that you enter must be a valid chord.
All valid chords are listed on the chords page.
Note:
In the game with 3 notes, chord inversions are allowed and the root note might be any one of the three notes.
In the game with 4 or 5 notes, the root note is always the first note in the chord.
After entering your guess, the tiles will be colored to indicate how close you are to the correct soultion.
A green backround means, that the note is in the chord and at the right position. In the chord shown above, the green B indicates that the second note is a B.
A yellow background means, that the note is in the chord, but in a different position. The yellow A♭ means that there is an A♭ in the chord, but not as the first note.
Notes with a grey background are not in the chord. The piano-keys associated with these notes are now marked with a pattern of diagonal lines (or hatching).
You can still use these keys, but they are not in the correct solution.
(There is currently no equivalent feature on the guitar fretboard.)
After entering the chord, some additional elements are displayed:
In the piano version, the thumbnail image is shown below the chord.
In the guitar version, the thumbnail image is shown to the right of the chord.
Using the play button, you can listen to the chord you entered.
By listening to your guess, and to the chord which is the solution, you can compare if the notes are higher or lower.
At this point, you might guess that the the solution is an E chord.
That's a good guess, but in this case it is not the correct answer.
Remember, in the game with 3 notes, the first note does not have to be the root of the chord.
Another valid chord would be A♭m7.
We could keep guessing, but real challenge is figure out the correct chord, by listening to the chord, and by listening to your guesses.
In this case, the solution is F-B-A♭, which is an Fm♭5 chord. This sounds like a dimished chord with only three notes.
After entering this chord, all three notes are green.
When you have finished the game, a dialog is displayed, showing the solution and some statistics about the chordles you have solved up to now.
All of the screen shots above show the 3-Note game.
There are some minor differences in the 4-Note and 5-Note games:
Otherwise the games are identical.
The rule about the root note makes the 3-Note game a little more difficult, and the 4-Note and 5-Note games a little easier.
The first tactic, is to try to identify teh root note of the chord.
If you have no idea at all, then try starting with a C9 chord:
Then listen to this chord and compare it to the soltion chord. Can you now guess where the root note is, relative to the notes in your guess?
The 5-Note game may seem difficult, but remember that there are only 12 different notes, which is a lot less than the 26 letters of the alphabet in Wordle. In only two guesses, you can check if 10 of the 12 notes are used. In three guesse, you can check all 12!