About the game
Root, Third & Fifth is a free ear training game. Each round plays two notes, a chord or a short progression, and you name what you heard. The first listen is free. Each replay costs 25 of the round’s 100 points, and a right answer is always worth at least 25.
Six kinds of rounds
- Higher or lower. Two notes. Does the second one go up or down?
- How far apart? Name the interval, from a major second up to an octave.
- What chord? Major, minor, diminished or augmented. The notes play one at a time, then together.
- Which seventh? Major 7th, dominant 7th, minor 7th or half-diminished. Four notes, one at a time, then together. These are the chords on every jazz and blues chart.
- Which progression? Four chords in a major key: I–IV–V–I, I–V–vi–IV, I–vi–IV–V or I–♭VII–IV–I. Every one starts on the home chord, so listen for where it goes next.
- Root, third or fifth? A chord plays, then one of its notes an octave up. Which one was it?
The Daily mixes all six in ten rounds, the same for everyone that day. Practice lets you drill one kind at a time, or shuffle them all in Mixed. After every answer you can tap each choice to hear what it would have sounded like.
Want the theory behind a round? The reference pages cover all 12 intervals, eight common chords and four progressions, with sound you can play, songs to remember them by, guitar shapes and the notes in every key.
How the sounds are made
Every note is made in your browser with the Web Audio API: a piano-like tone built from layered overtones, or a plucked string. There are no audio files to download, so rounds start instantly and the game works offline once it has loaded. On iPhone, sound starts with your first tap. If you hear nothing, check the volume and the ring/silent switch.
Free to play, always
Every round, mode and Daily is free, and always will be. The game is kept running by optional tips, merch and clearly labeled sponsors, never by locking rounds.
Privacy
There are no accounts, no ad trackers and no cookies. Your Daily results, best scores and sound choice stay in your browser’s local storage. To see whether the game is working, it may record anonymous events (a run started, a run finished, a share tapped) with a random ID stored on this device. It never records your name, email or location. Page views are counted by Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies. Questions: info@musingwebdesign.com.
Part of Good Eye
Root, Third & Fifth is one of the Good Eye games, free games for people who notice things. If you play guitar, try Wood, Wire & Tone and name vintage American guitars by sight.