A guitar has six strings and at least twelve usable frets per string. A chord like Am only has three different notes in it — A, C, and E — but those three notes can sit on many different combinations of strings and frets, in many different orders. Add the fact that the guitar's tuning repeats notes across the neck and you end up with dozens of physically distinct ways to play the same chord. Fretscape generates the ones that actually work under the hand and shows them all in one list.

Where the variety comes from

Five things multiply quickly:

• Position on the neck. The same chord can sit near the nut, around the 5th fret, up by the 12th, or anywhere else the same notes appear. Each position feels different under the hand and has a different colour to the ear.
• Which strings you use. A six-string voicing sounds full; a three-string voicing on the top strings sounds brighter and leaves more room underneath. The same chord can be played on the top three strings, the middle four, the bottom five, and any other workable combination.
• Inversions. Putting a different chord tone in the bass — third in the bass, fifth in the bass — gives you a different voicing. See What's an inversion? for more.
• Doublings. A six-string voicing of C doesn't have six different notes — it has C, E, and G, with a couple of those doubled an octave apart. Where you double a note changes the chord's weight.
• Optional notes. Some chord tones — typically the fifth in a seventh or ninth chord — can be left out without changing the chord's identity. Each "leave the fifth out" decision creates another playable voicing. See What's an optional note? for the full picture.

Multiply those together and a chord like Cmaj7 or Am9 ends up with hundreds of legitimate voicings. Fretscape rates each one for playability and returns them in order which makes sense.

Why this matters

A chord book usually picks a single shape per chord and sends you on your way. That's enough to learn the chord, but it leaves you stuck reaching for the same shape every time. Three problems show up the moment you start playing with other people or moving through progressions:

• The shape doesn't sit where you need it. A standard F barre doesn't help if your next chord is up by the 7th fret.
• It clashes in the mix. A thick low voicing can fight the bass; a thin high voicing might not carry enough weight.
• The change is harder than it needs to be. The "obvious" voicing of the next chord might be three position shifts away when an alternate voicing is right under your fingers.

Seeing every voicing in one place means you can pick the one that fits the song, not the one you happened to memorise first.

Finding the one you want

On Free, Fretscape shows up to 5 voicings per chord — usually the most useful, low-position ones. See Why am I only seeing 5 voicings? for what changes on Pro.

On Pro, every voicing is in the list, and the filters become the main tool for narrowing down. Fret range, max fingers, string count, inversions, bass note, barre control — pick the restrictions that match what you're trying to play, and the list shrinks from a hundred voicings to the handful that fit.