What is Acordle and who is it for?

Acordle is a mobile chord game inspired by the world of guitar. You place your fingers on a virtual fretboard, strum with your finger and hear how each string sounds, with the real sound that chord would produce. The experience is designed as a fast, replayable challenge — with scoring, streaks, lives and leaderboards — and a real musical foundation underneath.

Anyone can enjoy it, though people with a curiosity about music and guitar will probably enjoy it the most. It can also be appealing for those who already know some chords and want to revisit them, practise them or explore progressions in a different and entertaining way.

The idea behind Acordle is to turn chord shapes and basic musical logic into a game experience accessible from your phone.

Will Acordle help me learn to play guitar?

Remembering chords is a very important part of playing guitar, but you'll need more than that: fretting technique, strumming technique, rhythm, picking...

Acordle is not a guitar course; it has no guided exercises and it doesn't replace a teacher. It's designed as a game, but built on real chords and real musical logic. So if you ever pick up a real guitar, some of what you've seen or practised here may feel familiar.

How do you play Acordle?

Think of it as a memory game. During each session, chords will appear at the top of the screen. The first time you see a chord, you'll just need to replicate its diagram on the fretboard. But once you've played and strummed it correctly, the next time it appears you'll only see the chord name — no diagram.

The core mechanics:

1. Place your fingers in the correct fretboard positions for the chord that appears.
2. Strum the strings by swiping across the bottom of the screen, making sure you don't miss any strings or strum extra ones.
3. Acordle will instantly tell you whether you got it right or wrong. If you made a mistake, it will highlight in red the positions or strings you shouldn't have played, and in orange the ones you missed.
4. If you make a mistake or time runs out before you complete the strum, you'll lose a life. Three strikes and the game is over.
5. If you play all the chords in the level correctly without the diagram, you'll have completed the level and unlocked the next one.

The faster you are, the more points you'll earn. If you string together correct answers, you'll build a "streak" that awards bonus points when you reach a certain number of consecutive hits.

As you progress, chords you've already mastered will start mixing with new, harder ones. That means you're making progress and getting closer to completing the level!

The game has three difficulty levels:

• Beginner: the first chords people typically learn when picking up the guitar.
• Intermediate: barre chords and more complex shapes.
• Advanced: chords grouped by key; you'll need to complete 3 rounds to finish the level.

Can I play in landscape mode?

You have an option to enable it in the Settings. By default, the app is in portrait mode, but many players find it more comfortable to use a landscape layout, which more closely resembles the natural position of a guitar's fretboard, providing a more immersive experience.

You can also choose the "Auto" option so that the markers and the fretboard rotate based on the device's orientation, but it is more stable to set a fixed orientation.

What are those numbers that briefly appear when you complete a chord?

They're the real fingering for the chord: they indicate which finger goes on each position. 1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring, 4 = pinky. It's the same notation you'd find in a chord book.

They don't affect your score or any other aspect of the game. They appear just for a moment, as extra information for guitarists or for the more curious players who, beyond memorising the shape, want to know the fingering that would be used when playing the chord on a real guitar.

What are Standard, Latin and German chord notations?

They're just different ways of naming the same chords. Acordle lets you choose the one that feels most familiar to you.

For example, the same note can appear as B or Si, depending on the system. In German notation, you'll also see cases like H instead of B natural, and B for B flat.

This only changes how chord names and keys are displayed in the app. It doesn't change the sound, the fingering, or the game rules.

This setting is independent from the app language, so you can use the app in one language and still choose the chord notation you prefer.

If you're not sure which one to use, don't worry: you can switch notation anytime from Settings and keep the one that looks most natural to you.

Do I need to create an account to play?

We don't ask you to sign up blindly: you can play the entire scored game — all three difficulty levels — and complete them without creating an account.

That said, we do recommend signing up. With an account you'll get cloud sync, leaderboards, stats on your progress, monthly notifications and access to Free Practice.

Creating an account is free. Acordle is committed to minimal personal data storage: there are no custom passwords and your email is not stored in plain text in the database.

If you decide to create an account, we recommend signing in with Google, Apple or Facebook, as it's usually the quickest and most convenient way to log back in or recover access on another device. There's also the option of signing in via email with a one-time code.

And if you ever change your mind, you can always delete your account later from the app settings or through our account deletion page.

Can I re-watch the tutorials later?

Yes. You can reactivate them from the app's Settings.

If the toggle shows "OFF", it means you've already seen all the tutorials available for your current level. If it shows "ON", you still have some left to see. Either way, you can force them all to show again by switching from "OFF" to "ON"; they'll reappear when you enter the corresponding level or Free Practice.

This lets you revisit the basic mechanics, remember how a particular level works or refresh concepts if you haven't played in a while. It's also useful if you skipped a tutorial at the time and want to watch it later at your own pace.

What exactly is Free Practice?

Free Practice is a space to play without pressure. No timer, no score, no lives: you can try chords at your own pace, hear how they sound and explore different shapes at your leisure.

Unlike the main mode, here it's not about beating a session — it's about reviewing or experimenting. You can draw chord shapes on the fretboard, strum or pluck string by string, see which chord the app recognises and move within a key if you want to explore related progressions. You can even try out how some chord progressions or songs sound if you don't have a guitar nearby!

When you place your fingers and strum, Acordle identifies in real time which chord you're forming. If the position doesn't match any known chord, you'll see a ? — that's normal and part of the exploration. Some chords display the ALT label, which means it's a common alternative fingering for that same chord, even if it's not the version used in the scored mode.

In a nutshell: if the main game is designed for challenge and progression, Free Practice is designed for exploring, listening, trying out ideas and getting more familiar with chords.

Free Practice is included without limits in the Full Version, but you can try it for a few minutes each day for free.

Why does Free Practice require signing in?

As a Full Version feature, we need to link it to your account in order to offer you the free daily trial.

Additionally, being signed in allows us to automatically restore the key and the chord list you were practising with last time, so you can pick up right where you left off.

What exactly does the Full Version unlock? Will I keep it if I change phones?

The Full Version is a one-time purchase — it's not a subscription and there are no renewals. You pay once and it's yours forever.

It unlocks:

• Unlimited Free Practice — no time limits or cooldown periods.
• No ads — all ads are removed from the app.
• Full advanced stats — score progression, error analysis, chords you struggle with the most.

If you change phones, you'll be able to restore your Full Version on your new device using Restore purchases.

Can I play without an internet connection?

The main game can work offline, whether you're playing without an account or signed in. In the latter case, games are saved locally and will sync automatically once you're back online.

If unsynced games accumulate, you'll see an icon in Settings that lets you force a manual resync.

The features that do require an internet connection are signing in, purchases, leaderboards and Free Practice.

What happens if I switch phones? Is my progress saved?

If you're signed in, your progress syncs automatically to the cloud. When you sign in on your new device, everything is restored. It's one of the reasons we recommend creating an account.

If you already bought the Full Version, you can also recover it on your new device using Restore purchases.

If you play without an account, your progress stays on the device and cannot be transferred.

Still have questions?

If you haven't found the answer you're looking for or have encountered a technical issue, you can contact us at [email protected]. We'll be happy to help!