OpenFret's Chord, Scale, and Mode Library: A Free Reference for Faster Learning

June 13, 2026by OpenFret Team

We just put the whole reference shelf online. OpenFret now has free libraries for chords, scales, and modes: every common one, in every key, with fretboard diagrams you can actually read. No login, no paywall, no ad covering half the chart.

What's in the chord library

The chord library has a chart for every root and quality: major, minor, power chords, 7ths, maj7, m7, sus2, sus4, diminished, augmented, and add9. Each page gives you the diagram, the finger positions, the notes that make up the chord, and the keys it belongs to. Need a starting point? The C major, G major, and A minor pages cover most of the first songs you'll try to play. If you've ever wondered why one shape sounds fuller than another, the voicings article digs into that.

Scales

The scale library covers major, minor, both pentatonics, blues, and harmonic minor in every key, drawn across the full fretboard with the interval formula and the chords that sit underneath. If you're starting out, the A minor pentatonic page is the one to bookmark, since it's the shape most solos are built on. Our beginner scales guide walks through why those five shapes matter in the first place.

Modes

Modes are where a lot of players get stuck, so the mode library lays out all seven (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian) in every key, with the note that gives each one its flavor, the chords it pairs with, and songs that use it. D Dorian and G Mixolydian are the two most people meet first. If the word “mode” still feels slippery, start with the circle of fifths and how key signatures work, then come back.

Built for quick reference, not homework

The point of all this is speed. You're mid-practice, you blank on the shape of a Bm7 or where D Dorian sits, and you want the answer in two seconds without losing your place. That is what these pages are for. They load fast, they read fine on a phone propped against your music stand, and they link to each other, so a chord page points you to the scales it lives in and back again.

Pair it with Studio

If you want these tools live and interactive instead of static pages, OpenFret Studio puts a fretboard viewer, scale explorer, chord reference, metronome, and tuner in one browser tab, all synced to a key you pick. Change the key once and every widget follows. We wrote up how that works in the Studio overview, and there is a separate fretboard viewer walkthrough if that is the part you care about.

From looking it up to playing it

Reference only gets you so far. At some point you have to put the chart down and get the shapes under your fingers, and that is the part a diagram can't do for you. It is also the part Guitar Quest is built for: it drills the same chords, scales, and fretboard positions through actual playing, listening to your guitar and turning the reps into a game. Look it up here, then go burn it into muscle memory there.