Chord names and symbols (jazz and pop music)

Various kinds of chord names and symbols are used in different contexts, to represent musical chords

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

. In jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

and popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

, a chord name and the corresponding symbol are typically composed of one or more of the following parts:

The root note
Root (chord)
In music theory, the root of a chord is the note or pitch upon which a triadic chord is built. For example, the root of the major triad C-E-G is C....

(e.g. C).
The chord quality (e.g. major
Major chord
In music theory, a major chord is a chord having a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a major triad...

, maj, or M).
The number of an interval
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...

(e.g. seventh, or 7), or less often its full name or symbol (e.g. major seventh
Major seventh
In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as major because it is the larger of the two...

, maj7, or M7).
The altered fifth (e.g. sharp five
Augmented fifth
In classical music from Western culture, an augmented fifth is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, seven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to G, and from C to G are augmented fifths,...

, or 5).
An additional interval number (e.g. add 13 or add13), in added tone chord
Added tone chord
An added tone chord is a non-tertian chord composed of a tertian triad and an extra "added" note. The added note is not a seventh , but typically a non-tertian note, which cannot be defined by a sequence of thirds from the root, such as the added sixth or fourth...

s.

For instance, the name C augmented seventh

Augmented seventh chord

The augmented seventh chord , or seventh augmented fifth chord,or seventh sharp five chord is a dominant seventh chord consisting of an augmented triad with a minor seventh. Thus, it consists of a root, major third, augmented fifth, and the minor seventh.Thus in the key of C major it would be C,...

, and the corresponding symbol Caug7, or C+7, are both composed of parts 1, 2, and 3.

All this parts, except for the root, do not directly refer to the notes forming the chord, but to the intervals they form with respect to the root. For instance, Caug7 is formed by the notes C-E-G-B. However, its name and symbol refer only to the root note C, the augmented (fifth)

Augmented fifth

In classical music from Western culture, an augmented fifth is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, seven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to G, and from C to G are augmented fifths,...

interval from C to G, and the (minor) seventh

Minor seventh

In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the minor seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor seventh spans ten semitones, the...

interval from C to B. A set of decoding rules is applied to deduce the missing information.

Although they are used occasionally in classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, these names and symbols are "universally used in jazz and popular music",
usually inside lead sheet

Lead sheet

A lead sheet is a form of music notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the staff and the harmony is specified with chord symbols above the...

s, fake books, and chord chart

Chord chart

A chord chart is a form of musical notation that in addition to writing out non-embellished melody, describes harmonic and rhythmic information. It is the most common form of notation used by professional session musicians playing jazz or popular music. It is intended primarily for a rhythm section...

s, to specify the harmony

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

of compositions

Compositions

Compositions is the fourth album by the American R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. The album peaked at #5 on Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in 1990, making it Baker's third platinum selling album...

.
Other notation systems for chords include:
plain staff notation, used in classical music, Roman numerals, commonly used in harmonic analysis

Harmony

,
figured bass

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

, much used in the Baroque era

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

, and macro symbols

Macro analysis

In music theory, macro analysis is a method of transcribing, or writing down chords that may be used along with or instead of conventional musical analysis...

, sometimes used in modern musicology

Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...

Advantages and limitations

Any chord can be denoted using staff notation

Staff (music)

In standard Western musical notation, the staff, or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect,...

, showing not only its harmonic characteristics but also its exact voicing

Voicing (music)

In music composition and arranging, a voicing is the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the pitches in a chord...

. However, this notation, frequently used in classical music, may provide too much information, making improvisation

Musical improvisation

Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...

difficult. In fact, although voicings can and do have a significant effect on the subjective musical qualities of a composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

, generally these interpretations retain the central characteristics of the chord. This provides an opportunity for improvisation within a defined structure and is important to improvised music such as jazz

Jazz

. Other problems are that voicings for one instrument are not necessarily physically playable on another (for example, the thirteenth chord, played on piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

with up to seven notes, is usually played on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

as a 4- or 5-note voicing that is impossible to play on piano with one hand).

As a result of these limitations, a shorthand describing the harmonic characteristics of chords is used in pop music and jazz. This notation has an advantage of being more easily expressed in plain text

Plain text

In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....

and in handwriting than the relatively complicated process of writing chords on a staff. It is also faster to read.

The first part of a symbol for a chord defines the root of the chord. The root of the chord will always be played by one of the instruments in the ensemble (usually by a bass instrument) – failure to include the root means that the indicated chord is not being played. By convention, the root alone indicates a simple major triad, i.e., the root, the major third, and the perfect fifth above the root. After this, various additional symbols are added to modify this chord. There is unfortunately no universal standard for these symbols. The most common ones are presented here.

Jazz and pop notation does not easily provide for ways of describing all chords. Some chords can be very difficult to notate, and others that exist theoretically are rarely encountered. For example, there are 6 possible permutation

Permutation

In mathematics, the notion of permutation is used with several slightly different meanings, all related to the act of permuting objects or values. Informally, a permutation of a set of objects is an arrangement of those objects into a particular order...

s of triads (chords with three notes) involving minor or major thirds and perfect, augmented, or diminished fifths. However, conventionally only four are used (major, minor, augmented and diminished). There is nothing to stop a composer using the other two, but the question of what to call them is interesting. A minor third with an augmented fifth might be denoted, for example, by Am⁺, which will strike most musicians as odd. In fact, this turns out to be the same as F/A (see slash chords below). A major third with a diminished fifth might be shown as A(5).

Usually, when composers require a chord that is not easily described using this notation, they will indicate the required chord in a footnote or in the header of the music.

Chord quality

Chord qualities are related with the qualities of the component intervals

Interval (music)

In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...

which define the chord (see below). The main chord qualities are:

Major
Major chord
In music theory, a major chord is a chord having a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a major triad...

, and minor
Minor chord
In music theory, a minor chord is a chord having a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth.When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a minor triad....

.
Augmented, diminished
Diminished chord
A diminished triad chord or diminished chord is a triad consisting of two minor thirds above the root — if built on C, a diminished chord would have a C, an E and a G. It resembles a minor triad with a lowered fifth....

, and half-diminished
Half-diminished seventh chord
In music theory, the half-diminished seventh chord is created by taking the root, minor third, diminished fifth and minor seventh of any major scale; for example, C half-diminished is . Its consecutive intervals are minor 3rd, minor 3rd, major 3rd...

.
Dominant.

Some of the symbols used for chord quality are similar to those used for interval quality:

m, or min for minor,
M, maj, or no symbol (see rule 2 below) for major,
aug for augmented,
dim for diminished.

In addition, however,

Δ is sometimes used for major, instead of the standard M, or maj,
− is sometimes used for minor, instead of the standard m or min,
+, or aug, is used for augmented (A is not used),
, °, dim, is used for diminished (d is not used),
, or ^Ø is used for half diminished,
dom is used for dominant.

Chord qualities are sometimes omitted (see below). When specified, they appear immediately after the root note or, if the root is omitted, at the beginning of the chord name or symbol. For instance, in the symbol Cm7 (C minor seventh chord

Minor seventh chord

In music, a minor seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a minor third above the root.Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a minor seventh above the root...

) C is the root and m is the chord quality. When the terms minor, major, augmented, diminished, or the corresponding symbols do not appear immediately after the root note, or at the beginning of the name or symbol, they should be considered interval qualities, rather than chord qualities. For instance, in Cm/M7 (minor major seventh chord

Minor major seventh chord

A minor major seventh chord, or minor/major seventh chord is a naturally occurring diatonic nondominant seventh chord in the harmonic minor scale. The chord is built on a root, and above that the intervals of a minor third, a major third above that note and above that a major third...

), m is the chord quality and M refers to the M7 interval.

Major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords

3-note chords are called triads

Triad (music)

In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:* the Root...

. There are four basic triads (major, minor, augmented

Augmented triad

In music, an augmented triad is a triad, or chord, consisting of two major thirds . The term augmented triad arises from an augmented triad being a three note chord, or triad, whose top note is raised, or augmented...

, diminished). They are all tertian, which means defined by the root, a third interval

Third (music)

In music and music theory third may refer to:*major third*minor third*augmented third/perfect fourth*diminished third/major second*Third , chord member a third above the root*Mediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...

, and a fifth interval. Since most other chords are obtained by adding one or more notes to these triads, the name and symbol of a chord is often built by just adding an interval number to the name and symbol of a triad. For instance, a C augmented seventh chord

Augmented seventh chord

is a C augmented triad

Augmented triad

with an extra note defined by a minor seventh

Minor seventh

interval:

C+7	=	C+	+	m7
augmented chord		augmented triad		minor interval

In this case, the quality (minor, in the example) of the additional interval is omitted. Less often, the full name or symbol of the additional interval is provided. For instance, a C augmented major seventh chord

Augmented major seventh chord

In music, an augmented major seventh chord, augmented/major seventh chord, or major seventh sharp five chord is a nondominant seventh chord comprising the root note, the note a major third above the root, the note an augmented fifth above the root, and the note a major seventh above the root:...

is a C augmented triad with an extra note defined by a major seventh

Major seventh

In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as major because it is the larger of the two...

interval:

C+^M7	=	C+	+	M7
augmented chord		augmented triad		major interval

In both cases, the quality of the chord is the same as the quality of the basic triad it contains. This is not true for all chord qualities, as the chord qualities "half-diminished", and "dominant" refer not only to the quality of the basic triad, but also to the quality of the additional intervals.

Altered fifths

A more complex approach is sometimes used to name and denote augmented and diminished chords. An augmented triad can be viewed as a major triad in which the perfect fifth

Perfect fifth

In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...

interval (spanning 7 semitone

Semitone

A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....

s) has been substituted with an augmented fifth

Augmented fifth

(8 semitones), and a diminished triad as a minor triad in which the perfect fifth has been substituted with a diminished fifth (6 semitones). In this case, the augmented triad can be named major triad sharp five, or major triad augmented fifth (M⁵, M⁺⁵, maj^aug5). Similarly, the diminished triad can be named minor triad flat five, or minor triad diminished fifth (m⁵, m^°5, min^dim5).

Again, the terminology and notation used for triads affects the terminology and notation used for larger chords, formed by four or more notes. For instance, the above mentioned C augmented major seventh chord, is sometimes called C major seventh sharp five, or C major seventh augmented fifth. The corresponding symbol is CM7⁺⁵, CM7⁵, or Cmaj7^aug5:

CM7⁺⁵	=	C	+	M3	+	A5	+	M7
augmented chord		chord root		major interval		augmented interval		major interval

#Shorthand notation|the symbol A]], used for augmented intervals, is typically replaced by + or )
In this case, the chord is viewed as a C major seventh chord

Major seventh chord

In music, a major seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a major third above the root.Most typically, major seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a major seventh above the root . This is more precisely known as the major/major seventh chord, and it...

(CM7) in which the third note is an augmented fifth from root (G), rather than a perfect fifth from root (G). All chord names and symbols including altered fifths, i.e. augmented (5, +5, aug5) or diminished (5, °5, dim5) fifths can be interpreted in a similar way.

Rules to decode chord names and symbols

The amount of information provided in a chord name or symbol lean toward the minimum, to increase efficiency. However, it is often necessary to deduce from a chord name or symbol the component intervals which define the chord. The missing information is implied and must be deduced according to some conventional rules:

General rule to interpret existing information about chord quality

For triads, major
Major third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...

or minor
Minor third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor third spans three semitones, the major...

always refer to the third interval, while augmented
Augmented fifth
In classical music from Western culture, an augmented fifth is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, seven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to G, and from C to G are augmented fifths,...

and diminished always refer to the fifth. The same is true for the corresponding symbols (e.g., Cm means Cm3, and C+ means C+5). Thus, the terms third
Third (music)
In music and music theory third may refer to:*major third*minor third*augmented third/perfect fourth*diminished third/major second*Third , chord member a third above the root*Mediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...

and fifth and the corresponding symbols 3 and 5 are typically omitted.

This rule can be generalized to all kinds of chords, provided the above mentioned qualities appear immediately after the root note, or at the beginning of the chord name or symbol. For instance, in the chord symbols Cm and Cm7, m refers to the interval m3, and 3 is omitted. When these qualities do not appear immediately after the root note, or at the beginning of the name or symbol, they should be considered interval qualities, rather than chord qualities. For instance, in Cm/M7 (minor-major seventh chord), m is the chord quality and refers to the m3 interval, while M refers to the M7 interval. When the number of an extra interval is specified immediately after chord quality, the quality of that interval may coincide with chord quality (e.g. CM7 = CM/M7). However, this is not always true (e.g. Cm6 = Cm/M6, C+7 = C+/m7, CM11 = CM/P11). See specific rules below for further details.
General rule to deduce missing information about chord quality

Without contrary information, a major third
Major third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...

interval and a perfect fifth
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...

interval (major triad) are implied. For instance, a C chord is a C major triad, and the name C minor seventh (Cm7) implies a minor 3rd by rule 1, a perfect 5th by this rule, and a minor 7th
Minor seventh
In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the minor seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor seventh spans ten semitones, the...

by definition (see below). This rule has one exception (see the first specific rule below).
Specific rules
When the fifth interval is diminished, the third must be minor. This rule overrides rule 2. For instance, Cdim7 implies a diminished 5th by rule 1, a minor 3rd by this rule, and a diminished 7th by definition (see below).
Names and symbols which contain only a plain interval number (e.g. “Seventh chord”) or the chord root and a number (e.g. “C seventh”, or C7) are interpreted as follows:
If the number is 2, 4, 6, etc., the chord is a major added tone chord
Added tone chord
An added tone chord is a non-tertian chord composed of a tertian triad and an extra "added" note. The added note is not a seventh , but typically a non-tertian note, which cannot be defined by a sequence of thirds from the root, such as the added sixth or fourth...

(e.g. C6 = CM6 = Cadd6) and contains, together with the implied major triad, an extra major 2nd
Major second
In Western music theory, a major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, and encompassing two adjacent staff positions . For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff postions...

, perfect 4th
Perfect fourth
In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...

, or major 6th
Major sixth
In classical music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six staff positions , and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two...

(see below).

If the number is 7, 9, 11, 13, etc., the chord is dominant (e.g. C7 = Cdom7) and contains, together with the implied major triad, one or more of the following extra intervals: minor 7th, major 9th, perfect 11th, and major 13th (see Seventh chords and Extended chords below).
For sixth chord
Sixth chord
A sixth chord may be any of several kinds of chord depending on the use of the term in classical music and popular music. The original meaning of the term is a chord in first inversion, in other words with its third in the bass and its root a sixth above it...

names or symbols composed only of root, quality and number (such as "C major sixth", or "CM6"):
M, maj, or major stands for major-major (e.g. CM6 means CM/M6),

m, min, or minor stands for minor-major (e.g. Cm6 means Cm/M6).
For seventh chord
Seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a major triad with an added minor seventh...

names or symbols composed only of root, quality and number (such as "C major seventh", or "CM7"):
dom, or dominant stands for major-minor (e.g. Cdom7 means CM/m7),

M, maj, or major stands for major-major (e.g. CM7 means CM/M7),

m, min, or minor stands for minor-minor (e.g. Cm7 means Cm/m7),

+, aug, or augmented stands for augmented-minor (e.g. C+7 means C+/m7),

, dim, or diminished stands for diminished-diminished (e.g. C7 means C/7),

, or half-diminished stands for diminished-minor (e.g. C7 means C/m7).
Other specific rules for extended
Extended chord
In music, extended chords are tertian chords or triads with notes extended, or added, beyond the seventh. Ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords are extended chords...

and added tone
Added tone chord
An added tone chord is a non-tertian chord composed of a tertian triad and an extra "added" note. The added note is not a seventh , but typically a non-tertian note, which cannot be defined by a sequence of thirds from the root, such as the added sixth or fourth...

chords are given below.

Examples

The table shows the application of these generic and specific rules to interpret some of the main chord symbols. The same rules apply for the analysis of chord names. A limited amount of information is explicitly provided in the chord symbol (boldface font in the column labeled "Component intervals"), and can be interpreted with rule 1. The rest is implied (plain font), and can be deduced by applying the other rules. The "Analysis of symbol parts" is performed by applying rule 1.

Chord Symbol		Analysis of symbol parts				Component intervals Interval (music) In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...			Note Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself.... s	Chord name
Short	Long	Root	Third Third (music) In music and music theory third may refer to:major thirdminor thirdaugmented third/perfect fourthdiminished third/major secondThird , chord member a third above the rootMediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...	Fifth	Added Interval (music) In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...	Third Third (music) In music and music theory third may refer to:major thirdminor thirdaugmented third/perfect fourthdiminished third/major secondThird , chord member a third above the rootMediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...	Fifth	Added		Chord name
C		C				maj3	perf5		C-E-G	Major triad
CM	Cmaj	C	maj			maj3	perf5		C-E-G	Major triad
Cm	Cmin	C	min			min3	perf5		C-E-G	Minor triad
C+	Caug	C		aug		maj3	aug5		C-E-G	Augmented triad Augmented triad In music, an augmented triad is a triad, or chord, consisting of two major thirds . The term augmented triad arises from an augmented triad being a three note chord, or triad, whose top note is raised, or augmented...
C	Cdim	C		dim		min3	dim5		C-E-G	Diminished triad
C6		C			6	maj3	perf5	maj6	C-E-G-A	Major sixth chord
CM6	Cmaj6	C	maj		6	maj3	perf5	maj6	C-E-G-A	Major sixth chord
Cm6	Cmin6	C	min		6	min3	perf5	maj6	C-E-G-A	Minor sixth chord
C7	Cdom7	C			7	maj3	perf5	min7	C-E-G-B	Dominant seventh chord Dominant seventh chord In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord,is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as a major triad with an additional minor seventh...
CM7	Cmaj7	C	maj		7	maj3	perf5	maj7	C-E-G-B	Major seventh chord Major seventh chord In music, a major seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a major third above the root.Most typically, major seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a major seventh above the root . This is more precisely known as the major/major seventh chord, and it...
Cm7	Cmin7	C	min		7	min3	perf5	min7	C-E-G-B	Minor seventh chord Minor seventh chord In music, a minor seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a minor third above the root.Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a minor seventh above the root...
C+7	Caug7	C		aug	7	maj3	aug5	min7	C-E-G-B	Augmented seventh chord Augmented seventh chord The augmented seventh chord , or seventh augmented fifth chord,or seventh sharp five chord is a dominant seventh chord consisting of an augmented triad with a minor seventh. Thus, it consists of a root, major third, augmented fifth, and the minor seventh.Thus in the key of C major it would be C,...
C7	Cdim7	C		dim	7	min3	dim5	dim7	C-E-G-B	Diminished seventh chord Diminished seventh chord A diminished seventh chord is a four note chord that comprises a diminished triad plus the interval of a diminished seventh above the root. Thus it is , or enharmonically , of any major scale; for example, C diminished-seventh would be , or enharmonically...
C		C		dim		min3	dim5	min7	C-E-G-B	Half-diminished seventh chord Half-diminished seventh chord In music theory, the half-diminished seventh chord is created by taking the root, minor third, diminished fifth and minor seventh of any major scale; for example, C half-diminished is . Its consecutive intervals are minor 3rd, minor 3rd, major 3rd...
C7		C		dim	7	min3	dim5	min7	C-E-G-B
Cm^M7 Cm/M7 Cm(M7) Cm(maj7)	Cmin^maj7 Cmin/maj7 Cmin(maj7)	C	min		maj7	min3	perf5	maj7	C-E-G-B	Minor-major seventh chord

Intervals

A chord consists of two or more notes played simultaneously that are certain intervals apart with respect to the chord root. The following table shows the labels given to these intervals and the respective notes for each of the twelve keys. As explained above, chord notation provides a shorthand for intervals, not actual notes. This table provides a mapping of intervals to actual notes to play.

Chord root Root (chord) In music theory, the root of a chord is the note or pitch upon which a triadic chord is built. For example, the root of the major triad C-E-G is C....	Unison Unison In music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...	Minor second Minor second In modern Western tonal music theory a minor second is the interval between two notes on adjacent staff positions, or having adjacent note letters, whose alterations cause them to be one semitone or half-step apart, such as B and C or C and D....	Major second Major second In Western music theory, a major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, and encompassing two adjacent staff positions . For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff postions...	Minor third Minor third In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor third spans three semitones, the major...	Major third Major third In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...	Perfect fourth Perfect fourth In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...	Tritone Tritone In classical music from Western culture, the tritone \|tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...	Perfect fifth Perfect fifth In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...	Minor sixth Minor sixth -Subminor sixth:In music, a subminor sixth or septimal sixth is an interval that is noticeably narrower than a minor sixth but noticeably wider than a diminished sixth.The sub-minor sixth is an interval of a 14:9 ratio or alternately 11:7....	Major sixth Major sixth In classical music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six staff positions , and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two...	Minor seventh Minor seventh In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the minor seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor seventh spans ten semitones, the...	Major seventh Major seventh In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as major because it is the larger of the two...
F	F	G	G	A	A	B	B / C	C	D	D	E	E
C	C	D	D	E	E	F	F / G	G	A	A	B	B
G	G	A	A	B	B	C	C / D	D	E	E	F	F
D	D	E	E	F	F	G	G / A	A	B	B	C	C
A	A	B	B	C	C	D	D / E	E	F	F	G	G
E	E	F	F	G	G	A	A / B	B	C	C	D	D
B	B	C	C	D	D	E	E / F	F	G	G	A	A
	F	G	G	A	A	B	B / C	C	D	D	E	E
	G	A	A	B	B	C	C / D	D	E	E	F	F
	C	D	D	E	E	F	F / G	G	A	A	B	B
	D	E	E	F	F	G	G / A	A	B	B	C	C
	G	A	A	B	B	C	C / D	D	E	E	F	F
	A	B	B	C	C	D	D / E	E	F	F	G	G
	D	E	E	F	F	G	G / A	A	B	B	C	C
	E	F	F	G	G	A	A / B	B	C	C	D	D
	A	B	B	C	C	D	D / E	E	F	F	G	G
	B	C	C	D	D	E	E / F	F	G	G	A	A

Triads

As earlier suggested, the root written alone indicates a simple major triad

Major chord

In music theory, a major chord is a chord having a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a major triad...

. It consists of the root, the major third, and the perfect fifth above the root.
Minor triads

Minor chord

In music theory, a minor chord is a chord having a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth.When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a minor triad....

are the same as major triads, but with the third lowered by a half step

Semitone

A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....

.
Augmented triad

Augmented triad

s are the same as a major triad, but with an augmented fifth

Augmented fifth

instead of a perfect fifth

Perfect fifth

.
Diminished triads are similar to minor triads, but with a diminished fifth instead of a perfect fifth (the minor third is retained).

The table below shows names, symbols and definition for the four kinds of triads (using C as root).

Name	Symbols			Definitions
	Short	Long	Altered fifth	Component intervals Interval (music) In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...		Integers	Note Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself.... s
	Short	Long	Altered fifth	Third Third (music) In music and music theory third may refer to:major thirdminor thirdaugmented third/perfect fourthdiminished third/major secondThird , chord member a third above the rootMediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...	Fifth	Integers
Major triad	C CM CΔ	Cmaj		major	perfect	{0, 4, 7}	C-E-G
Minor triad	Cm C−	Cmin		minor	perfect	{0, 3, 7}	C-E-G
Augmented triad Augmented triad In music, an augmented triad is a triad, or chord, consisting of two major thirds . The term augmented triad arises from an augmented triad being a three note chord, or triad, whose top note is raised, or augmented... (major triad sharp five)	C+	Caug	CM⁵ CM⁺⁵	major	augmented	{0, 4, 8}	C-E-G
Diminished triad (minor triad flat five)	C°	Cdim	Cm⁵ Cm^°5	minor	diminished	{0, 3, 6}	C-E-G

Seventh chords

A seventh chord

Seventh chord

A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a major triad with an added minor seventh...

is a triad with an added note, which is either a major seventh

Major seventh

above the root, a minor seventh

Minor seventh

above the root (flatted 7th), or a diminished seventh

Diminished seventh

In classical music from Western culture, a diminished seventh is an interval produced by narrowing a minor seventh by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from A to G is a minor seventh, ten semitones wide, and both the intervals from A to G, and from A to G are diminished sevenths,...

above the root (double flatted 7th). Note that the diminished seventh note is enharmonically equivalent to the major sixth

Major sixth

In classical music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six staff positions , and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two...

above the root of the chord. When not otherwise specified, the name "seventh chord" may more specifically refer to a major triad with an added minor seventh (a dominant seventh chord

Dominant seventh chord

In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord,is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as a major triad with an additional minor seventh...

).

The table below shows names, symbols, and definitions for the various kinds of seventh chords (using C as root).

Name	Symbols			Definitions
	Short	Long	Altered fifth	Component intervals Interval (music) In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...			Integers	Note Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself.... s
	Short	Long	Altered fifth	Third Third (music) In music and music theory third may refer to:major thirdminor thirdaugmented third/perfect fourthdiminished third/major secondThird , chord member a third above the rootMediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...	Fifth	Seventh Minor seventh In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the minor seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor seventh spans ten semitones, the...	Integers
Seventh Dominant seventh chord In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord,is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as a major triad with an additional minor seventh... (dominant seventh)	C⁷	Cdom⁷		major	perfect	minor	{0, 4, 7, 10}	C-E-G-B
Major seventh Major seventh chord In music, a major seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a major third above the root.Most typically, major seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a major seventh above the root . This is more precisely known as the major/major seventh chord, and it...	CM⁷ / CMa⁷ / C ^j7 CΔ⁷ / C^Δ	Cmaj⁷		major	perfect	major	{0, 4, 7, 11}	C-E-G-B
Minor-major seventh Minor major seventh chord A minor major seventh chord, or minor/major seventh chord is a naturally occurring diatonic nondominant seventh chord in the harmonic minor scale. The chord is built on a root, and above that the intervals of a minor third, a major third above that note and above that a major third...	Cm^M7 / Cm⁷ C−^M7 / C−^Δ7 / C−^Δ	Cmin^maj7		minor	perfect	major	{0, 3, 7, 11}	C-E-G-B
Minor seventh Minor seventh chord In music, a minor seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a minor third above the root.Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a minor seventh above the root...	Cm⁷ C-⁷	Cmin⁷		minor	perfect	minor	{0, 3, 7, 10}	C-E-G-B
Augmented-major seventh Augmented major seventh chord In music, an augmented major seventh chord, augmented/major seventh chord, or major seventh sharp five chord is a nondominant seventh chord comprising the root note, the note a major third above the root, the note an augmented fifth above the root, and the note a major seventh above the root:... (major seventh sharp five)	C+^M7 C^+Δ	Caug^maj7	CM7⁵ / CM7⁺⁵ CΔ⁵ / CΔ⁺⁵	major	augmented	major	{0, 4, 8, 11}	C-E-G-B
Augmented seventh Augmented seventh chord The augmented seventh chord , or seventh augmented fifth chord,or seventh sharp five chord is a dominant seventh chord consisting of an augmented triad with a minor seventh. Thus, it consists of a root, major third, augmented fifth, and the minor seventh.Thus in the key of C major it would be C,... (dominant seventh sharp five)	C+⁷	Caug⁷	C7⁵ / C7⁺⁵	major	augmented	minor	{0, 4, 8, 10}	C-E-G-B
Half-diminished seventh Half-diminished seventh chord In music theory, the half-diminished seventh chord is created by taking the root, minor third, diminished fifth and minor seventh of any major scale; for example, C half-diminished is . Its consecutive intervals are minor 3rd, minor 3rd, major 3rd... (minor seventh flat five)	C^Ø / C^Ø7 C / C7	Cmin^7dim5	Cm7⁵ / Cm7^°5 C−7⁵ / C−7^°5	minor	diminished	minor	{0, 3, 6, 10}	C-E-G-B
Diminished seventh Diminished seventh chord A diminished seventh chord is a four note chord that comprises a diminished triad plus the interval of a diminished seventh above the root. Thus it is , or enharmonically , of any major scale; for example, C diminished-seventh would be , or enharmonically...	C⁷ C°⁷	Cdim⁷		minor	diminished	diminished	{0, 3, 6, 9}	C-E-G-B
Seventh flat five (dominant seventh flat five)	C⁷⁵	Cdom^7dim5		major	diminished	minor	{0, 4, 6, 10}	C-E-G-B

Many possible format variations are possible. The superscripts may be also written as ordinary font, sometimes separated by a slash from the preceding parts of the symbol, or written within parentheses. For instance:

CM⁷ may be written CM7
Cm^M7 may be written as CmM7, Cm/M7, or Cm(M7).

Except for the root, all the other parts of the symbols may be superscripted. For instance:

CM⁷ may be written C^M7
CM7⁵ may be written CM⁷⁵, or C^M75.

Some 7th chords can be considered as triad chords with alternate bass

Alternate bass

In music, alternate bass is a performance technique on many instruments where the bass alternates between two notes, most often the root and the fifth of a triad or chord....

. Examples:

Cm7 = C-E-G-B = E/C
Cmaj7 = C-E-G-B = Em/C

Extended chords

Extended chords add further notes onto 7th chords. Of the 7 notes in the major scale, a seventh chord uses only 4. The other 3 notes can be added in any combination; however, just as with the triads and seventh chords, notes are most commonly stacked – a seventh implies that there is a fifth and a third and a root. In practice, especially in jazz, certain notes can be omitted without changing the quality of the chord.

The 9th, 11th and 13th chords are known as extended tertian chords. As the scale repeats for every seven notes in the scale, these notes are enharmonically equivalent to the 2nd, 4th, and 6th – except they are more than an octave above the root. However, this does not mean that they must be played in the higher octave. Although changing the octave of certain notes in a chord (within reason) does change the way the chord sounds, it does not change the essential characteristics or tendency of it. Accordingly, using 9th, 11th and 13th in chord notation implies that the chord is an extended tertian chord rather than an added chord (see Added Chords below).

9ths

9th chords are built by adding to a seventh chord a note which is an interval of a ninth from root. This implies that the 7th note from root is also included in the chord. When the 7th is omitted, the chord cannot be classified as an extended chord, as it becomes an added tone chord

Added tone chord

An added tone chord is a non-tertian chord composed of a tertian triad and an extra "added" note. The added note is not a seventh , but typically a non-tertian note, which cannot be defined by a sequence of thirds from the root, such as the added sixth or fourth...

. 9ths may be theoretically added to any type of chord, however they are most commonly seen with Major, Dominant and Minor sevenths.

The most commonly omitted note for voicings is the perfect 5th.

The table below shows names, symbols, and definitions for the various kinds of ninth chords (using C as root)

Name	Symbol		Quality of added 9th	Note Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself.... s
Name	Short	Long	Quality of added 9th
(Major) 9th	CM⁹ / C^Δ9	Cmaj⁹	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Dominant 9th	C⁹	Cdom⁹	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Minor Major 9th	Cm^M9 / C−^M9	Cmin^maj9	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Minor Dominant 9th	Cm⁹ / C−⁹	Cmin⁹	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Augmented Major 9th	C+^M9	Caug^maj9	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Augmented Dominant 9th	C+⁹ / C⁹⁵	Caug⁹	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Half-Diminished 9th	C^Ø9		Major	C-E-G-B-D
Half-Diminished Minor 9th	C^Ø9		Minor	C-E-G-B-D
Diminished 9th	C°⁹	Cdim⁹	Major	C-E-G-B-D
Diminished Minor 9th	C°⁹	Cdim⁹	Minor	C-E-G-B-D

11ths

These are theoretically 9th chords with the 11th (4th) note in the scale added. However, it is common to leave certain notes out. The major 3rd is often omitted because of a strong dissonance with the 11th (4th), therefore called an avoid note. Omission of the 3rd reduces an 11th chord to the corresponding 9sus4 (suspended

Suspended chord

A suspended chord is a chord in which the third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth or a major second , although the fourth is far more common...

9th chord; Aiken 2004, p. 104). Similarly, omission of the 3rd as well as 5th in C11 results in a major chord with alternate base B/C, which is characteristic in soul and gospel music. For instance:

C¹¹ without 3rd = C-(E)-G-B-D-F ≈ C-F-G-B-D = C^9sus4

C¹¹ without 3rd and 5th = C-(E)-(G)-B-D-F ≈ C-F-B-D = B/C

If the 9th is omitted, the chord is no longer an extended chord, but an added tone chord

Added tone chord

(see below). Without the 3rd, this added tone chord becomes a 7sus4 (suspended 7th chord). For instance:

C¹¹ without 9th = C7^add11 = C-E-G-B-(D)-F

C7^add11 without 3rd = C-(E)-G-B-(D)-F ≈ C-F-G-B = C^7sus4

The table below shows names, symbols, and definitions for the various kinds of eleventh chords (using C as root)

Name	Symbol		Quality of added 11th	Note Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself.... s
Name	Short	Long	Quality of added 11th
11th (dominant 11th)	C¹¹	Cdom¹¹	Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Major 11th	CM¹¹	Cmaj¹¹	Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Minor-Major 11th	Cm^M11 / C−^M11	Cmin^maj11	Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Minor 11th	Cm¹¹ / C−¹¹	Cmin¹¹	Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Augmented-Major 11th	C+^M11	Caug^maj11	Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Augmented 11th	C+¹¹ / C¹¹⁵	Caug¹¹	Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Half-Diminished 11th	C^Ø11		Perfect	C-E-G-B-D-F
Diminished 11th	C°¹¹	Cdim¹¹	Diminished	C-E-G-B-D-F

Alterations from the natural diatonic chords can be specified as C⁹¹¹ … etc. Omission of the 5th in a sharped 11th chord reduces its sound to a flat-five chord. (Aiken 2004, p. 94):

C⁹¹¹ = C-E-(G)-B-D-F ≈ C-E-G-B-D = C⁹⁵

13ths

These are theoretically 11th chords with the 6th note in the scale added. Again it is common to leave certain notes out. After the 5th, the most commonly omitted note is the troublesome 11th (4th). The 9th (2nd) can also be omitted. A very common voicing on guitar for a 13th chord, for example, is just the root, 7th, 3rd and 13th (6th). For example:
C-E-(G)-B-(D)-(F)-A = C-E-A-B-(D)-(F) - on the piano it is usually voiced C-Bb-E-A.

The table below shows names, symbols, and definitions for some of thirteenth chords (using C as root)

Name	Symbol		Quality of added 13th	Note Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself.... s
Name	Short	Long	Quality of added 13th
Major 13th	CM¹³ / CΔ¹³	Cmaj¹³	Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A
Dominant 13th	C¹³	Cdom¹³	Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A
Minor Major 13th	Cm^M13 / C−^M13	Cmin^maj13	Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A
Minor Dominant 13th	Cm¹³ / C−¹³	Cmin¹³	Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A
Augmented Major 13th	C+^M13	Caug^maj13	Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A
Augmented Dominant 13th	C+¹³ / C¹³⁵	Caug¹³	Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A
Half-Diminished 13th	C^Ø13		Major	C-E-G-B-D-F-A

Alterations from the natural diatonic chords can be specified as C¹¹¹³ … etc.

Added tone chords

An important characteristic of jazz is the extensive use of sevenths

Seventh chord

. The combination of 9th (2nd), 11th (4th) and 13th (6th) notes with 7ths in a chord give jazz chord voicing their distinctive sound. However the use of these notes is not exclusive to the jazz genre; in fact they are very commonly used in folk, classical and popular music generally. Without the 7th, these chords lose their jazzy feel, but can still be very complex. These chords are called added tone chords because they are basic triads with notes added. They can be described as having a more open sound than extended chords.
Notation must provide some way of showing that a chord is an added tone chord as opposed to extended. There are two ways this is shown generally, and it is very common to see both methods on the same score. One way is to simply use the word 'add', for example:

C^add9

The second way is to use 2 instead of 9, implying that it is not a 7th chord for instance:

Note that in this way we potentially get other ways of showing a 9th chord:

C^7add9
C^7add2
C^7/9

Generally however the above will be shown as simply C⁹, which implies a 7th in the chord. Added tone chord notation is useful with 7th chords to indicate partial extended chords. For example:

C^7add13

This would indicate that the 13th is added to the 7th, but without the 9th and 11th.

The use of 2, 4 and 6 as opposed to 9, 11 and 13 pretty safely indicates that the chord does not include a 7th unless specifically specified. However, it does not mean that these notes must be played within an octave of the root, nor the extended notes in 7th chords should be played outside of the octave, although it is commonly the case. 6 is particularly common in a minor sixth chord (also known as minor/major sixth chord, as the 6 refers to a major sixth

Major sixth

interval).

It is possible to have added tone chords with more than one added note. The most commonly encountered of these are 6/9 chords, which are basic triads with the 6th and 2nd notes of the scale added. These can be confusing because of the use of 9, yet the chord does not include the 7th. A good rule of thumb is that if any added note is less than 7, then no 7th is implied, even if there are some notes shown as greater than 7.

Similarly, even numbers such as 8, 10 and 12 can be added. However, these double the main triad, and as such are fairly rare. 10 tends to be the most common; it can be used both in suspended chords and (with an accidental) in major or minor chords to produce a major-minor clash

Blue note

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...

(e.g. C⁷⁽¹⁰⁾ indicating the Hendrix chord

Hendrix chord

In music, the dominant 79 chord is sometimes known colloquially as the Hendrix chord or Purple Haze chord, nicknamed for guitarist Jimi Hendrix...

of C-E-E-G-B). However, because of enharmonic

Enharmonic

In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently...

s, such chords can more easily, and perhaps more intuitively, be represented by 2 (or 9) for a minor over a major or 4 for a major over a minor. In any other case, an 8, 10 or 12 simply indicates the respective note from the triad doubled up one octave.

Suspended Chords

A suspended chord

Suspended chord

A suspended chord is a chord in which the third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth or a major second , although the fourth is far more common...

is a triad where the 3rd is replaced by another note. In practice the 3rd is replaced either by the 4th or the 2nd. These are called suspended chords because they create an impression of suspense. These chords "desire" to resolve into a normal triad. Suspended chords are notated with the symbols "sus4" or "sus2". Where "sus" is found on its own, the suspended fourth chord is implied. This can be combined with any other notation. So for example:

Csus⁹

This chord is an extended 9th chord with the 3rd replaced by the 4th (C-F-G-B-D). However, the major third can be added as a tension above the 4th to "colorize" the chord (C-F-G-B-D-E). A sus4 chord with the added major third (sometimes called a major 10th) can also be quartal

Quartal

Quartal may refer to:*Quartal harmony, music featuring chords built from fourths*Quaternary numeral system, a system for representing numbers based on powers of four...

ly voiced as C-F-B-E.

Power "chords"

Though power chord

Power chord

In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...

s are not true chords per se, they are still expressed using a version of chord notation. Most commonly, power chords (e.g. C-G-C) are expressed using a "5" (e.g. C⁵). Power chords are also referred to as fifth chords, indeterminate chords or neutral chords (though the term "neutral chord," when expressed with an n (e.g. Cn), is also used to describe a pair of stacked neutral third

Neutral third

A neutral third is a musical interval wider than a minor third but narrower than a major third . Three distinct intervals may be termed neutral thirds:...

s, e.g. C-E-G, which requires a quarter tone

Quarter tone

A quarter tone , is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale, an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which is half a whole tone....

or similarly sized microtone; or the mixed third chord), since they are inherently neither major nor minor; generally, a power chord refers to a specific doubled-root, three-note voicing of a fifth chord.

In the event that an extended neutral chord is to be played, e.g. a seventh (C-G-B), the chord is expressed as its corresponding extended chord notation with the addition of the words "no3rd," "no3" or the like. The aforementioned chord, for instance, would be indicated C⁷no3.

Inversions

In addition to all of the ways of building chords (listed above), a chord may be inverted. Inverting a chord refers to playing a chord, but with a note other than the root as the lowest note of the chord. Take, for example, the C Major Chord. Refer to the table below for a list of inversions.

C Major Chord
Root Position	First Inversion	Second Inversion
C – E – G	E – G – C	G – C – E	B – C – E – G
Written as: C	Written as: C/E	Written as: C/G	Written as: C7/B

The notation C/E indicates a C major chord, but with an E in the bass. Likewise the notation C/G indicates that a C major chord is played with a G in the bass.

See figured bass

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

for alternate method of notating specific notes in the bass.

Upper structures

Those are notated in a similar manner to inversions, except that the bass note is not necessarily a chord tone. Examples:

C/A (A C E G), equivalent to AΔ75;
C/E (E G C F);
Am/D (D A C E).

Chord notation in jazz usually leaves a certain amount of freedom to the player as for voicing chords, also adding tensions at the player's discretion. Therefore, upper structures are most useful when the composer wishes for a specific tension array to be played. Example:

C/E | C/A E/A | D/E GΔ75/A | Eadd 2/D D79/G | Am7/C ||

produces a certain coloration of the following chord progression:

E7 | Am7 A7 | Em7 A7 | D G7 | C ||

These are also commonly referred as "slash chord

Slash chord

In popular music a slash chord or slashed chord, also compound chord, is a chord whose bass note or inversion is indicated by the addition of a slash and the letter of the bass after the root note letter. It does not indicate "or"....

s." A slash chord (commonly used in Contemporary Christian music) is simply a chord with the bass note replaced. For example:

D/F# is a D chord with the root bass note (D) replaced with F#;
A/C# is an A chord with the root bass note (A) replaced with C#.

Polychords

Polychords, as the name suggests, are combinations of two or more chords. The most commonly found form of a polychord is a bi-chord (two chords played simultaneously) and is written as follows:

(example:

(C E G B D F)). In case a very specific voicing is needed, the individual chords can be written in their desired inversions, for example:

(C G E G B E).

Other Symbols

The right slash

Slash (punctuation)

The slash is a sign used as a punctuation mark and for various other purposes. It is now often called a forward slash , and many other alternative names.-History:...

/ or diagonal line written above the staff where chord symbols occur is used to indicate a beat

Beat (music)

The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...

during which the most recent chord symbol is understood to continue. It is used to help make uneven harmonic rhythms more readable. For example, if written above a measure of standard time, "C / F G" would mean that the C chord symbol lasts two beats while F and G last one beat each. The slash is separated from the surrounding chord symbols so as not to be confused with the chord-over-a-bass-note notation that also uses a slash.

For chord abbreviations, the right slash indicates the bass note if other than the root. It is usually written with the complete chord name, and, after the slash symbol, the desired bass note. For example, the symbol C/G would mean that the chord to play is a C major triad with a G as the bass note, leading to the following notes: G C E (commonly known as the 2nd inversion C major triad).

A right slash surrounded by two dots 𝄎 reminiscent of a percent sign % [illustration needed] in an otherwise empty measure indicates that the chord or chords of the previous measure are to be repeated. It can be reused over many consecutive measures. It is used to simplify the job of both the reader (who can quickly scan ahead to the next chord change) and the copyist (who doesn't need to write out the full chord symbols repeatedly).

The chord notation N.C. is used to indicate no chord is to be played. The duration of this symbol follows the same rules as a regular chord symbol.

Summary

The description of chord notation has been as exhaustive as possible. Necessarily, in an attempt to be as complete as possible, the description is lengthy, and not easy to decipher at a glance. This section is included as a brief summary of one of the notations described, aimed more at the performer's perspective (rather than that of the composer or theorist).

From the descriptions, above, it can be seen that C min maj 13 indicates a chord whose root is C, with each of the odd intervals, up to the one indicated (13th in this case) placed above it, but with the 3rd flattened.

When the integer for the main interval is omitted, it is understood to be a 5
When the maj is omitted, it causes the 7th (if present) to be flattened
When the quality is min (as in the example above) the 3rd is flattened (as already stated)
When the quality is aug, the 5th is sharpened
When the quality is dim, each of the intervals is flattened
When the quality is sus or sus4, the third is sharpened
When the quality is sus2 the third is double-flattened
When the quality is omitted, none of them (min, aug, dim, sus, sus4 or sus2) are applied

In this way, C dim 9 indicates a chord whose root is C, with a flattened 3rd, a flattened 5th, a double-flattened 7th (flattened once by the presence of dim, and flattened again by the omission of the maj) and a flattened 9th.

When a small even number is used as the main interval: 2 is equivalent to 9, 4 is equivalent to 11, and 6 is equivalent to 13; but with the omission of the 7th possibly implied in each case; and when the number is explicitly stated as a 5, it implies the omission of the 3rd.

In the vast majority of cases, though, none of this complexity is involved. A typical piece of music might stipulate chords like C F Amin G7, giving (according to the summary above) two major triads, a minor triad, and an extended chord of four notes.

Advantages and limitations

Chord quality

Major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords

Altered fifths

Rules to decode chord names and symbols

Examples

Intervals

Triads

Seventh chords

Extended chords

9ths

11ths

13ths

Added tone chords

Suspended Chords

Power "chords"

Inversions

Upper structures

Polychords

Other Symbols

Summary

See also