Within a mobile communication device (100), a method (300) of specifying two or more musical notes for substantially concurrent playback can include receiving (302) an input specifying a root note (FIG. 2 ) indicating a position on a neck of a stringed instrument and associating (308) at least one column of input keys such as numeric keys (115) of the mobile communication device with a string of the stringed instrument (130). Numeric keys next to one another and within a same column can specify notes which vary by approximately a half-step (130). The method also can include detecting (312) at least one activation of the numeric keys specifying at least one additional note to be played substantially concurrently or in a defined sequence with the root note (FIG. 5 ), thereby specifying a musical chord.