The ChordColor 12-Color System
ChordColor assigns a unique color to each of the 12 intervals. The root is always red, a major 3rd is always yellow, a perfect 5th is always blue — no matter which instrument you are looking at or which key you are in.
How the Color System Works
ChordColor's defining feature is its 12-color interval system. Every note on every instrument is colored according to its distance (in semitones) from the current root note. This means a major 3rd always looks the same whether you are viewing a guitar fretboard, a piano keyboard, or a LinnStrument grid.
The colors follow a rainbow-like progression around the chromatic circle:
| Interval | Semitones | Color |
|---|---|---|
| Root | 0 | Red |
| Minor 2nd | 1 | Red-Orange |
| Major 2nd | 2 | Orange |
| Minor 3rd | 3 | Amber |
| Major 3rd | 4 | Yellow |
| Perfect 4th | 5 | Lime-Green |
| Tritone | 6 | Teal |
| Perfect 5th | 7 | Blue |
| Minor 6th | 8 | Indigo |
| Major 6th | 9 | Purple |
| Minor 7th | 10 | Magenta-Pink |
| Major 7th | 11 | Rose-Pink |
Why Colors Help
When you see a major chord, you see Red (root), Yellow (major 3rd), and Blue (perfect 5th) — a primary-color triad that is instantly recognizable. A minor chord swaps the yellow for Amber (minor 3rd). This visual shorthand lets you identify chord types at a glance, even on unfamiliar instruments.
The system is root-relative, meaning the colors change when you change the root note. If C is your root, E appears as yellow (major 3rd). But if E becomes the root, C is now indigo (minor 6th). This dynamic recoloring shows you the function of each note, not just its name.
In ChordColor
Select any chord or scale and watch every instrument light up with interval colors. The color legend at the top of the screen shows all 12 colors with their interval names. Use this system to visually compare how the same chord looks across different instruments.