Analysis & Transposing
Figured Bass Calculator
About this tool
Free figured bass calculator: pick a bass note and figures to see the notes above the bass, the chord and its Roman numeral, then hear it.
Pick a bass note and figures to see the chord and its Roman numeral.
♯, ♭ and ♮ set that note’s accidental; + is the slashed figure (raise the key-signature note a half step). A sharp with no number applies to the 3rd.
V65
G7 (Dominant 7th)
First inversion
- Notes (from the bass up)
- B – D – F – G
- In the key?
- Every note is in the key signature
Figures are read from the key signature. Chords with notes outside the key also show their usual label, such as a secondary dominant (V7/V) or the Neapolitan (N6).
Suspensions (4–3, 9–8, 7–6) and a lone 4 are not chords, so they are not supported. 4⁄3 — a 4th and 3rd sounding together — is read as a seventh chord in second inversion.
How to use ↓What is this tool?
Figured bass is a shorthand that tells you which intervals to build above a bass note. This calculator turns a bass note and its figures into the notes above the bass, the chord name, its inversion and a classical Roman numeral — and plays it. Figures are read from the key signature, and you add accidentals for the raised leading tone or any note outside the key. Every result comes from the theory engine, which is round-trip checked across all twelve keys, major and minor, and every inversion of triads and seventh chords.
When it helps
-
Read figures in harmony exercises
See at once which chord and inversion a 6⁄5 or 4⁄2 under a bass note stands for.
-
Practice continuo realization
Build chords from figures the way a Baroque keyboard player does, and hear the result.
-
Understand minor keys and chromatic chords
Check how ♯ and ♮ raise the leading tone, and how the Neapolitan and secondary dominants are figured, with their usual labels.
How to use
- 1 Choose the key and major or minor
- 2 Choose the bass note (raise or lower it if needed)
- 3 Choose the figures (5⁄3, 6, 6⁄4, 7, 6⁄5, 4⁄3, 4⁄2)
- 4 Add accidentals where needed (for V in minor, ♯ or ♮ on the 3rd)
- 5 Read the chord, Roman numeral and notes, then press play to hear it