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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Writing Chord Names• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Knowing how to read and write chord names is an easy yet invaluable skill. Chords are often written in a kind of shorthand that makes them instantly recognizable (and gives you the freedom to play them with the voicing or inversion that you prefer).

Once you understand the basic principles of harmony and chords, it’s very simple to use this shorthand to write out the chords of a song.

First, write the root note of the chord in an uppercase letter. If you need to specify sharp or flat, indicate that to the right of the root. The chord type should be indicated to the right as well. Examples for the key of C are shown below.

Major chord

Minor chord

Augmented chord

Diminished chord

C

Cm

Caug

Cdim

 

 

 

 

For simple major chords, the type is omitted.

One important point: Chords are made up of notes “stacked” on top of each other, and the stacked notes are indicated in the chord name of the chord type as a number

the number being the distance of the note from the root. (See the keyboard dia- gram below.) For example, the minor 6th chord includes the 6th note of the scale, the major 7th chord has the 7th note of the scale, etc.

The Intervals of the Scale

To better understand the intervals and the numbers used to represent them in the chord name, study this diagram of the C major scale:

Other Chords

Dominant 7th (flatted 7th)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

D

E

F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Root

 

 

4th

 

 

 

 

7th

 

 

 

11th

 

 

 

3rd

 

 

6th

 

 

9th

 

2nd

5th

 

Octave

Csus4

 

C7

 

Cm7

 

CM7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th

 

 

 

4th

Dominant

Major chord

Dominant

Minor chord

 

 

7th

 

 

Major chord

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cm7b5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cm6

C(9)

 

 

 

 

 

Cdim7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Bbb = A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dominant

Diminished

Minor

 

6th

9th

 

 

 

Diminished 7th

Diminished

7th

chord

chord

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(double flatted

chord

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7th)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

54

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Yamaha Yamaha PortaTone, EZ-20 owner manual Caug Cdim