Chordify’s way: Belonging is the one thing you can’t vibe-code

How Chordify is making 89 million players feel at home, starting with the UK, Germany and Poland.

Nine out of ten guitarists quit within their first year. Not because playing is too hard. But because learning scales is tedious. While all they wanted was to play along with “Creep”, “Someone Like You” or “Zombie”.

Chordify was built on a different belief: start with the song you love, and you’ll still be playing next year. Last year, 89 million musicians did exactly that. And now Chordify is making it personal, country by country, song by song. Starting with the UK, Germany and Poland, and with eyes firmly on the Global South: Brazil and India.

 

In a world where any app can be built overnight and chord charts are free everywhere online, Co-founder and COO Gijs Bekenkamp is investing in something algorithms can’t replicate: the feeling that somewhere on the internet, your music, your songs, your taste, your way of playing, finally has a home.

Belonging, it turns out, is the one thing you can’t vibe-code.

Britain doesn’t play what Germany plays

Chordify has users in virtually every country, from fans of Filipino pop to Christian rock, and what they play varies from one market to the next. The UK version is being built around Boxing Day, bank holidays, the BRIT Awards and Beatles Week, with Germany and Poland the other first markets and the rollout paced country by country. Beyond the Western markets where it is used most, Chordify sees great potential in the Global South, naming Brazil and India as big opportunities.

“We are committed to making Chordify feel like home, no matter where you live,” says Bekenkamp.

A bandmate, not a teacher

Rival apps are built around improvement, with levels, lessons and tricks designed to make users better musicians. “Chordify is more like the bandmate who sits next to you, knows the chords of every song and helps you get on with playing along. We often hear back from our users that it feels like playing in a band, because you play along with the music you love,” says Bekenkamp.

Chordify knows the chords of every song because of its AI-driven algorithms that generate chords within seconds. Thousands of musicians, enough to fill London’s O2 Arena, then fix the chords when something sounds wrong. This model carries into the UK, German and Polish versions, and a rebuilt editor for chords, lyrics and strumming patterns is set to open to everyone soon.

That approach suits the way most people actually play. Fewer than a third of Chordify’s players are there to improve, according to the company’s conversations with users. The majority play to unwind or to connect with the people they love, and users rate the app 4.7 out of 5.

 

Songs come before scales

Bekenkamp points to an estimate that nine in ten guitarists quit within their first year, as the traditional route puts scales, theory and exercises before the songs that drew them in. Chordify flips that order for beginners and busy adults alike, letting players start with a song they love, then change the key, slow it down or follow chords and lyrics together. In the UK, those first songs will reflect what British players actually listen to.

About Chordify

Chordify generates the chords for a song within seconds of it appearing on YouTube or SoundCloud, then relies on thousands of musicians to refine them. The chords can be displayed for guitar, piano, ukulele and mandolin. Players can change the key, slow songs down, repeat sections and follow chords and lyrics together. Founded by a group of friends who shared a love of music, Chordify drew 89 million unique visitors last year and exists to keep people playing and to make the world live its music.