# Hints, and how much help you want

Choose the note names, the shape on the keyboard, both, or no hints at all, with an option to show them only when you are about to lose.

## Two ways to be told the answer

A hint shows you the answer in one of two ways. **Note circles** name the notes: the letters in order, with the bass marked. **The keyboard** shows the shape instead, as keys to press.

The names help you learn how the chord is built, and the shape helps you play it. You can have both on at once.

![The practice screen with both hints: the note circles above and the keyboard below.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/hints/both.webp)

![The question with note circles only: A, C, E.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/hints/balls.webp)

![The keyboard hint with the chord’s keys marked in orange.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/hints/keyboard.webp)

## Always, on a mistake, or never

You can also choose when hints appear. Keep them **always visible** while a chord type is new. With that off, the answer still appears after a mistake, or when you press `Space` because you would rather look than guess.

With every hint off, the screen shows only the chord name. That is the setting to work toward, because it shows whether you really know the chord.

![The practice screen with no hints: just the chord name and the inversion bar.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/hints/none.webp)

## Help when you are about to lose

There is also a middle setting: **show hints automatically when you are about to lose**. In game mode, when you are on your last heart, the answer appears by itself before you play rather than after a mistake.

Once you are past that point, the hints go away again, so a hard session is less likely to end in a lost game.

![The hints settings: keep hints always visible, show them when about to lose, and the two hint types.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/hints/settings.webp)

| Keys | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `H` | Keep hints visible on or off |
| `B` | Note circles on or off |
| `K` | Keyboard hint on or off |
| `Space` | Reveal the answer for this chord |

## Related help

Two related aids are **fingering numbers** over the keys for scale practice, and **root highlighting**, which colors the root note red so you can build the chord from it. Both are next to the hint switches in [Preferences](https://pianokitty.com/preferences).

On a phone both hints start switched off, because there is no room to show the answer beside the question; it would sit under your thumb and give the chord away. Once you change either switch, your choice stays for every exercise.

## Pick your level of help

- Try it: [Names and shape](https://pianokitty.com/app?subject=chords&ct=0,1&bn=0,2,5,7,9&inv=0&hints=true&balls=true&keys=true): Everything visible, for meeting a new chord type.
- Try it: [Shape only](https://pianokitty.com/app?subject=chords&ct=0,1&bn=0,2,5,7,9&inv=0&hints=true&balls=false&keys=true): The keyboard, without the note names.
- Try it: [Names only](https://pianokitty.com/app?subject=chords&ct=0,1&bn=0,2,5,7,9&inv=0&hints=true&balls=true&keys=false): The note letters; you find the keys yourself.
- Try it: [Nothing at all](https://pianokitty.com/app?subject=chords&ct=0,1&bn=0,2,5,7,9&inv=0&hints=false&balls=false&keys=false): Only the chord name.

Related: [The chord chart](https://pianokitty.com/features/chart.md), [What is this chord, exactly?](https://pianokitty.com/features/chord-info.md), [A practice screen you can strip down](https://pianokitty.com/features/configurable-interface.md)

Source: https://pianokitty.com/features/hints