Play along with any song on YouTube

01Install

Simply Chords is free on the Chrome Web Store.

1. Open Simply Chords on the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome.
2. Confirm Add extension. A welcome page opens with the first steps.
3. Pin the extension: click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar, then the pin next to Simply Chords. Its menu is where the settings live.

02First run

1. Open a video on YouTube (a page with watch?v= or /shorts/ in the address).
2. Click once anywhere on the page. Browsers only let a page process audio after you've interacted with it. Until then the overlay says Click the page to start chord detection.
3. Press play. Chords start appearing in the box at the top right of the video, with a finger diagram for each.

Straight away the chords come from real-time listening, so each one shows up about half a second after you hear it. To get every chord ahead of time, analyze the song (step 04).

03Reading the overlay

Everything you need while playing sits in one box on the video. It stays put in fullscreen and theater mode, and hides during ads.

• 1
  KeyThe song's key, worked out from what it hears.
• 2
  CapoWhich fret to put your capo on. "(auto)" means the extension chose it.
• 3
  Chord to play nowThe shape name and its diagram, already adjusted for the capo.
• 4
  What it really is"sounds Gm" names the actual chord. "easy F" appears when an easier shape stands in.
• 5
  Next chordThe chord coming up, with a small diagram so you can get your fingers ready.
• 6
  CountdownFills up as the change gets closer and turns yellow in the last second. "(predicted)" means it was guessed from the song's pattern.
• 7
  Coming upThe next few chords in order, nearest first.

How to read a chord diagram

Diagrams are drawn as if the guitar stands upright facing you: the thick line at the top is the nut (or your capo), the low E string is on the left, and the high e string is on the right.

With a capo on, frets are counted from the capo, so a diagram showing the 2nd fret means two frets above the capo.

04Analyze a song

Analysis works through the whole song in one go. Afterwards every chord appears before it happens, and the result is more accurate than listening live.

1. Click Analyze this song, either the yellow button on the overlay or the big button in the extension's popup.
2. Simply Chords runs through the song once to map every chord. The video stays quiet while it works, and a progress bar shows how far it has got. A typical song takes a couple of minutes. Press Esc or Cancel to stop.
3. Just before the end it stops on its own, so YouTube doesn't skip to the next video, and rewinds to 0:00. The overlay says Chords ready! Press play.
4. Press play and play along. The next chord and its countdown are always visible ahead of time.

05Capo and easy chords

Every chord is shown as a shape that's comfortable on an acoustic guitar.

Automatic capo

With Choose capo automatically on, the extension looks at every chord in the song and picks the one capo fret that gives the easiest shapes overall. It's chosen once per song, so it never changes while you play.

Prefer your own fret? Turn automatic off and pick a fret from 0 to 9 with the slider. The diagrams update immediately.

Simplified chords

Chords are reduced to plain major and minor, the way most chord sheets write them:

Easy substitutes

Barre chords are the hardest part for many players. With Easy substitutes on (the default), four of them are swapped for open shapes with the same root and the same major/minor feel:

When a substitute is used, the overlay notes it under the chord, for example "easy F".

06Letter Fleet

An optional mini-game for the minute or two while a song is being analyzed.

1. During analysis, press G or click Play a game (G) on the overlay.
2. The page dims and the letters on screen lift off and fly into formation as winged ships. Your ship is your YouTube profile picture, or a pixel ship if you're signed out.
3. When analysis finishes you get a CHORDS READY! banner with your score, and the game closes itself.

The game captures the keyboard while it's open, so YouTube's own shortcuts (space to pause, arrows to skip) can't interrupt the analysis underneath. Your high score is saved.

07Settings

Click the extension's icon in the toolbar. Changes apply instantly.

08Fixes

The Analyze button is grey, or the popup says to refresh the tab

That tab is running an older copy of the extension, usually because the extension was reloaded after the tab opened. Click Refresh this tab in the popup, or refresh the page yourself, then click the page once.

The overlay says "Reload the page to enable chord detection"

Same cause: refresh the YouTube tab.

"No audio signal available for this video"

Some videos are copy-protected, and the browser won't let extensions hear them. Chords can't be detected for those videos.

A chord looks wrong

Click Analyze again: an analyzed song is more accurate than live listening. Busy mixes with loud vocals or heavy effects are the hardest. If a shape feels odd, try turning off easy substitutes or setting the capo yourself.

"Extension context invalidated" on the extensions page

A harmless leftover from reloading the extension while a YouTube tab was open. Refresh the tab and click Clear all on the errors page.

The Analyze button doesn't appear

It's hidden once a song is analyzed. Use Analyze again in the popup to redo it.