Tools for understanding a score: chord charts, song structure visualization, dynamics, scale analysis, and difficulty mapping.
Shows the chord progression of the song as a grid - one cell per bar, labeled with the chord name. Open the Chord Chart tab in the Tools panel.
Each cell is one bar. The chord name is extracted from the score's beat data. Cells are arranged in rows of 8 bars (like a lead sheet). Section markers appear as bold row headers.
Click any cell to jump playback to that bar. The active bar is highlighted in real time during playback.
During playback, the current bar pulses with an accent border so you can follow along in the chart without watching the score.
Shift+click a cell to set it as the A point. Shift+click another cell to set the B point. Good for looping a chorus or a verse by clicking its chord blocks.
Click the ℝn toggle in the chord chart header to switch chord labels from root names (Am, F, G) to Roman numerals (i, VI, VII). Roman numerals show the function of each chord relative to the detected key - useful for understanding why a progression works in any key.
Click any chord name in the chart to open a fretboard diagram popup showing voicing options for that chord. Click a diagram to apply that voicing to the current beat in the score.
Hover over chord cells in the chart to reveal/hide the chord name - like a flashcard drill. Toggle flashcard mode from the chart header. Practice identifying chords by ear before checking the label.
Visualizes the full song as a color-coded map - at a glance, you can see where sections repeat, how long each part is, and how the song is built. Open the Structure tab in the Tools panel.
Each unique section gets a color. Bars with the same musical fingerprint (same chord sequence + note pattern) share a color. The result is a visual template of the song form - repeated blocks are obvious.
A legend below the map shows which color maps to which section. Click any block to jump playback there.
If the score has no section markers, click Auto-label. Riffwork analyzes repeated bar patterns and assigns labels (A, B, C… with Intro/Outro heuristics). Labels appear in the Structure map and in the minimap.
After auto-labeling, you can edit individual labels - click any section name in the legend and type a new one. Click Apply to write the labels into the score.
A per-bar velocity chart showing how loud or quiet each bar is. Helps you see where a song breathes and where it peaks. Open the Dynamics tab in the Tools panel.
Bars are plotted as a bar chart, colored from blue (quiet) to orange (loud). This data also drives the minimap shading - louder bars appear brighter in the minimap strip.
Displayed in the score stats bar (below the track name). Riffwork uses a Krumhansl-Schmuckler algorithm to analyze the note content and report the most likely key.
The detected key is used by the Chord Chart (for Roman numeral analysis), the Chord Progression Builder, and the Capo Finder.
Suggests a capo position (0–7) that puts the chord shapes in guitar-friendly positions. Open the Capo Finder from the score stats bar or the Tools panel.
Click Apply next to a suggestion to set the staff capo. The score re-renders with capo-adjusted fret numbers and open chord voicings.
Shows which scale degrees are used across the score, helping you identify the modal character or spot chromatic passages. Open the Scale tab in the Tools panel.
Degrees are shown on a chromatic wheel - active degrees lit in orange, unused in dark. Hover a degree to see which bars it appears in.
A canvas rendering of a fretboard with each fret/string position colored by how often it's used in the score. Bright orange = heavily used, dark = rarely played. Identifies where on the neck a song lives.
Open the Heatmap tab in the Tools panel. Click any fret position to see which bars use it.
A small fretboard overlay in the bottom-right corner of the screen tracks the active fret positions during playback in real time. A 5-fret window scrolls to keep the active position centered.
Toggle it from the Tools panel or via the toolbar. Designed to show beginners where to put their fingers as the song plays.