NodaLab
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A node graph for learning music theory

Music theory you can wire together.

Connect a scale to its chords, a chord to a fretboard, a rhythm to a track — and hear every connection play. NodaLab turns theory into building blocks you can take apart.

Try the demo See how it works

No account needed for the demo. To keep what you build: request an account or sign in.

A graph as the editor draws it: a scale feeds every chord it can build, one is kept and shown on a fretboard; the chords and a rhythm feed a backing track, read as tablature. C major Scale Every chord of C scale → chords Keep one Select On the neck Strings Eighth notes Rhythm Strum them Backing track Read it Tablature C major C · major Keep one C Dm Em F G Am Eighth notes On the neck Read it 3 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 0 0 2 3
How it works

Three moves, then you play.

1

Pick a node

The palette holds scales, chords, rhythms, instruments and players: over a hundred building blocks, each with its own documentation.

2

Wire the ports

Every port has a type, and every type has a colour. A connection that cannot work is refused before it is made.

3

Press play

Chords arpeggiate, scales run, rhythms loop, and the notation follows the sound note by note.

One graph, two views

Build it as a graph. Use it as a page.

The editor

A zoomable canvas of draggable nodes and typed connections. This is where an idea gets taken apart and rewired.

The page

The same graph laid out as interactive widgets: selectors, fretboards, scores and a transport bar. What you actually play with, no wires in sight.

What's inside

Everything a practice session needs, as nodes.

Theory as building blocks

Notes, intervals, scales, modes, keys, chords, voicings, cadences and progressions — each one an output you can feed to the next.

Hear everything

Every General MIDI instrument across three sample libraries, a drum machine with Euclidean rhythms, and backing tracks built from your progressions.

Read it your way

Tablature, standard notation, piano roll and chord diagrams, for guitar, bass, piano or kalimba — highlighted in time as it plays.

MIDI in, MIDI out

Import a MIDI file, split it into tracks, transpose, stretch or delay them, then export the result.

Built for practice

Loop any passage, and raise the tempo step by step with the tempo trainer.

Tutorials you can take apart

A guided course of graphs that open right in the editor. Rewire them freely, then keep a copy as your own.

Accounts

One account for you. Guest accounts for the people you play with.

Two kinds of accounts, and both get the whole editor.

Premium

The account you ask for on the sign-up page.

  • Your graphs and collections, saved and shared.
  • Groups you own, for a class or a band.
  • Guest accounts you create for their members.
  • A MIDI library of pieces and backing tracks.

Guest

Created by a premium account, for the people it works with.

  • The whole editor, and their own saved graphs.
  • Everything shared in the groups they belong to.
  • No sign-up, no plan of their own.

Ready to hear what theory sounds like?

Open the demo and start with the first tutorial.

Try the demo Request an account