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This page is designed to teach the basics of chord formation and naming as used by the majority of musicians. It is important to realise that once you get beyond the basic major and minor chord types, naming becomes a bit subjective, which is why some people, in particular jazz musicians, may come up with slightly different names for the same chord. |
Chord names are all based on the musical scale from which the notes are taken.
A scale is just a sequence of musical notes separated by different gaps. One way of thinking about a scale is to imagine a flight of 12 stairs going up. On a guitar, each step corresponds to a fret on the fingerboard, and 12 frets equals an octave, or exactly half the length of a guitar string.
Playing a scale is equivalent to climbing the staircase, but skipping certain steps on the way. Which steps you skip over (or, equivalently, which steps you do step on) determines the musical scale. On the guitar this is equivalent to playing notes up the fingerboard, but skipping over different frets on the way.
Each step (or fret) corresponds to a musical distance called a semitone. Scales are therefore made up from different combinations of semitone steps. Time for some examples...
Counting the starting step as 0, the major scale is made by skipping the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th steps on our staircase (or frets on the guitar). What's left gives us the major scale. Thus, the scale of D major is given by the notes D, (skip D#), E, (skip F), F#, G, (skip G#), A, (skip A#), B, (skip C), C#, and back to D again. Similarly, the notes of the Bb scale are Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb.
The minor scale is a bit more complicated. Simply because it sounds better that way, we skip the 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th steps going up, but on the way down we skip the 11th, 9th, 6th, 4th, and 1st steps of the staircase. Fortunately, for chord theory we only need to worry about going upstairs. Thus the ascending scale for D minor is D, (skip D#), E, F, (skip F#), G, (skip G#), A, (skip A#), B, (skip C), C#, D.
Other scales are possible, of course, by skipping other combinations of steps on our staircase, but the major and minor scales are by far the most predominant in Western music. About the only other scale you may encounter reasonably frequently is the chromatic scale, which is just climbing the stairs using every step and skipping none.
| Semitone step | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major scale | D | - | E | - | F# | G | - | A | - | B | - | C# | D |
| Minor scale | D | - | E | F | - | G | - | A | - | B | - | C# | D |
| Chromatic scale | D | Eb | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | Bb | B | C | C# | D |
Another way of thinking of scales is not which steps you miss out, but how big your strides need to be at each step. When you miss a step you have to stride further, but if you're just going to the next step up the staircase it's a small stride. The distance between adjacent steps on the staircase is called a semitone, while a slightly larger stride (which skips one step) is a tone.
The chromatic scale is made up of all semitones - twelve of them in a row. The major scale, however, has a sequence of tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone and repeat. And the minor scale is slightly different, as explained above. In summary, using T for tone and S for semitone, we have:
Major scale = T-T-S-T-T-T-S
Minor scale = T-S-T-T-T-T-S
Chromatic scale
= S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S
To translate this to the guitar, you need to think of each string being musical staircase, with the frets being the steps. You can play a scale by walking up the staircase (string) in tones or semitones, skipping frets as appropriate. There are also landings which join the staircase strings at the fifth fret (or fourth fret for the G string). The note at a landing is the same as the bottom of the next string, so you can transfer across for easier fingering.
We can refer to different notes in a scale by their order. Thus, 'the 3rd' in the scale of D major is F#, while 'the 6th' is B. The distance between the notes D and F#, known as an interval, is therefore 'a 3rd', because F# is the 3rd note in the scale of D major. Similarly, D to B is 'a 6th', or Bb to A is 'a 7th'. This is important because chord names are determined by the intervals between the notes that make it up.
Intervals are all based on the major scale. So what happens if the notes don't fit into the major scale? For example, the interval C to G# is half way between a 5th and a 6th. To cope with this we can use terms like 'major', 'minor', 'perfect', 'augmented', 'diminished', 'sharp', and 'flat'.
This is a bit confusing, since many of the terms overlap each other. The normal usage of these terms is summarised in the table below.
| Semitones | Interval |
|---|---|
| 0 | unison |
| 1 | flat 2nd |
| 2 | 2nd |
| 3 | minor 3rd |
| 4 | major 3rd |
| 5 | perfect 4th |
| 6 | diminished 5th (or augmented 4th) |
| 7 | perfect 5th |
| 8 | minor 6th (or augmented 5th) |
| 9 | major 6th |
| 10 | minor 7th (flat 7th) |
| 11 | major 7th |
| 12 | octave |
As mentioned earlier, chords are made up from a combination of intervals. The simplest, and perhaps most common, combination is the major chord.
A major chord is made up of the 1st, major 3rd, and perfect 5th. For example, the chord of D major (or just D, since unless otherwise stated chords are assumed to be major) is made up of the notes D, F#, and A, which are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th elements of the D major scale.
As the name suggests, a minor chord is made up of the 1st, minor 3rd, and perfect 5th. For example, the chord of D minor (abbreviated as Dm) is D, F, and A. Too easy! But things are about to get harder...
The major and minor chords differ only in the 3rd, which is lowered by one semitone in the latter. It is the 3rd which gives these chords their character, making major chords sound happy while minor chords sound sad. But what happens if the 3rd isn't there?
A fifth chord contains only the 1st and perfect 5th elements, omitting the 3rd e.g. D5 = D and A. Because these are neither major nor minor, they have a slightly ambiguous sound, and because the only interval present is a perfect 5th, they tend to have a big powerful sound, which is why they are often known as 'power chords' in rock music.
Instead of omitting the 3rd altogether we could replace it with either the 2nd or the 4th, again giving an ambiguous sound, but one which seems to want to resolve itself - these chords sound like they want to become major or minor but can't quite get there. Because of this they are called suspended chords.
A suspended second chord contains the 1st, 2nd, and 5th elements of the major scale, while a suspended fourth chord contains the 1st, perfect 4th, and 5th.
Instead of moving or removing notes from a major or minor chord as above, we can add new ones instead. By far the most common chord of this type is the seventh.
A seventh chord adds the minor 7th element of the scale e.g. for D7 you'd add a C to the basic D chord, giving D, F#, A, and C, while for Dm7 you'd add the minor 7th to the Dm chord, giving D, F, A, and C.
It is important to remember that it is the minor 7th that is added to a plain seventh chord; in this sense, 'seventh' is actually shorthand for 'minor seventh'. On the other hand, a major-seventh chord adds the major 7th element of the scale e.g. Dmaj7 adds C# to the D chord, giving D, F#, A, and C#. Thankfully it is very rare to strike the very confusing minor-major-seventh chord, such as Dm maj7, in which the major 7th is added to the basic minor chord, in this case giving D, F, A, and C#.
Similar to above, a sixth chord adds the (major) 6th element. For example D6 would be D, F#, A, and B, while Dm6 would be D, F, A, and B. The problem with minor-major and major-minor sevenths does not occur with sixths, as adding the minor 6th would result in an augmented chord (see below).
A reasonably common variant of the sixth chord is the 6/9 chord, which adds both the major 6th and the major 9th (equivalent to the major 2nd, only one octave higher). Thus Dm6/9 would have D, F#, A, B, and E notes, though in some cases the 5th may be left out, giving D, F#, B and E.
We're starting to get complicated now! Obviously a 9th, 11th, or 13th chord adds the 9th, 11th, or 13th element of the scale, but the hidden catch is that in all these chords must also have a seventh in them. Because there are now so many different notes in these chords, it is often OK to leave out the 5th, but the 7th must always be there.
An added complication is that there are different forms of these chords depending on whether it is the flat or sharp 9th (etc) added, and whether it it is the major or minor 7th that's added. For example,
| D9 | = D7 | + 9th | = D | + F# | + optional A | + compulsory C | + E |
| Dm9 | = Dm7 | + 9th | = D | + F | + optional A | + compulsory C | + E |
| Dmaj9 | = Dmaj7 | + 9th | = D | + F# | + optional A | + compulsory C# | + E |
| D(b9) | = D7 | + flat 9th | = D | + F# | + optional A | + compulsory C | + Eb |
| etc |
A diminished chord is made up of the 1st, minor 3rd, diminished 5th, and major 6th. For example, Ddim (sometimes written D° or D-) would be D, F, G#, and B. In a diminished chord, the intervals between successive notes are all minor 3rds, which means that Ddim is the same as Fdim, G#dim, and Bdim, because exactly the same combination of notes makes up all of them. In most cases the chord would be named by whichever is the lowest note.
An augmented chord is made up the 1st, major 3rd, and augmented 5th, so that Daug (sometimes written D+) would be D, F#, and Bb. In this case the intervals between notes are all major thirds, so that Daug is the same as F#aug and Bbdim.
The name of a chord is usually set by it's bass note, so that most of the examples mentioned above would all have D as the lowest note present. Similarly the lowest note in C9 is C, Ebmaj7 is Eb, and G#m maj9 is G#.
An altered bass chord simply uses a different note in the bass. Thus C/G is a normal C chord but with the lowest note being G i.e. G, C, and E. Most of the time the new bass note will belong to the basic chord, but it needn't e.g. D/C is C + D + F# + and A, or C + F# + D + A etc. Notice that it doesn't matter what order the notes come in except for the first note which always specifies the bass note. Notice also, that although D/C now contains a C note, it is not neccessary to call it D7/C as the C is quite obvious.
Not all combinations of notes fall into the chord categories defined above, though most of the ones that sound good will. Most other chords may be specified using 'added' notes, and the few remaining must be squeezed in wherever possible.
A chord with added notes is written exactly how you might expect e.g. Dadd2 is D with the second added, D, E, F#, and A. Note the difference between an add2 or add4 chord and a sus2 or sus4 chord: in the former case the 3rd is present. Similarly there is an important difference between Dadd9 and D9: the latter must have the flat 7th in it while the former does not.
Chords may also be altered by sharpening or flattening individual elements e.g. D7#9 would be D, F#, A, C, and F. Similarly Dm7b5 would be D, F, Ab, and C.
| Chord type | Scale Elements | Notation example |
|---|---|---|
| major | 1, 3, 5 | D |
| minor | 1, -3, 5 | Dm |
| fifth | 1, 5 | D5 |
| suspended second | 1, 2, 5 | Dsus2 |
| suspended fourth | 1, 4, 5 | Dsus4 |
| seventh | 1, <3>, 5, -7 | D7 |
| major-seventh | 1, <3>, 5, 7 | Dmaj7 |
| sixth | 1, <3>, 5, 6 | D6 |
| 6/9 | 1, <3>, (5), 6, 9 | D6/9 |
| ninth | 1, <3>, (5), -7, 9 | D9, Dm9, Dmaj9 |
| eleventh | 1, <3>, (5), -7, (9), 11 | D11, Dm11, Dmaj11 |
| diminished | 1, -3, -5, 6 | Ddim |
| augmented | 1, 3, +5 | Daug |
| altered bass | bass note, chord | D/F#, D/E |
| added note | chord, extra note | Dadd9, D7add2 |
| altered chord | chord with altered note(s) | D7b5, D6#9 |
Say you come up with a sweet-sounding shape on the guitar, but you don't recognise what chord it is. How can you figure it out?
The first thing to do is to write down how you formed that shape. An simple way to write chord shapes is something like 022100, where each number represents which fret a note is played at, and the order of numbers is from lowest guitar string (the fattest one) to highest (thinnest). The previous example is an E chord, while a C might be written x32010, where the x indicates a damped or unplayed string. We'll work through the example of naming x02120, which I think is a nice chord.
Once we've written down the chord we need to write down the tuning of the guitar, which in most cases will be EADGBE (standard tuning). From this we can figure out what notes make up our chord. In our example, the second string is played open, and is therefore an A note, while the 3rd string is fretted at the 2nd fret, so is 2 semitones higher than the name of the string (D) and therefore E. We could write this graphically:
| Tuning | E | A | D | G | B | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mystery chord | x | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Note | - | A | E | G# | C# | E |
So we now know that the notes of our chord are A, E, G#, and C#.
Since the bass note is A, it's probably going to be some sort of A chord, based on the scale of A. Listing semitone steps starting from A, and comparing our mystery chord we get:
| Semitone | Interval | Note | Mystery chord |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | unison | A | A |
| 1 | flat 2nd | Bb | - |
| 2 | 2nd | B | - |
| 3 | minor 3rd | C | - |
| 4 | major 3rd | C# | C# |
| 5 | 4th | D | - |
| 6 | dim 5th | D# | - |
| 7 | 5th | E | E |
| 8 | aug 5th | F | - |
| 9 | 6th | F# | - |
| 10 | minor 7th | G | - |
| 11 | major 7th | G# | G# |
| 12 | octave | A | - |
Now we know that we have the 1st, major 3rd, 5th, and major 7th notes of the A scale. Consulting the chord summary above, we conclude that it is a major chord (because it has the major 3rd rather than the minor 3rd) and a major-seventh chord (because it has the major 7th). Therefore, the chord is Amaj7.
And now for a more complicated example. Say we've tuned our guitar to DADGAD and find we like the sound of the chord 023057 (yeah I know it's not humanly possible to play this chord - it's just an example alright!)
| Tuning | D | A | D | G | A | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mystery chord | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| Note | D | B | F | G | D | A |
Using D (the bass note) as the base of our scale, we have the 1st, 6th, minor 3rd, 4th, 1st, and 5th, respectively. The minor 3rd means it is a minor chord, and the 6th means it is a sixth chord. But that 4th is kind of left over - we can't make it into a 13th because we don't have the 7th that must be present in every 13th chord. So we could call it Dm6add4 I guess. But maybe there's a better option.
Let's assume that D isn't the true bass i.e. it's an altered bass chord. Excluding the bass D, and trying G as the base of our scale gives the major 3rd, the minor seventh, the 1st, the fifth, and the 2nd. The major 3rd means it will be a major chord. We can call the 2nd a 9th because it is a high note and we have the necessary 7th present. That means it would be a G9 with D in the bass, or G9/D, which is a more elegant name than Dm6add4.
In most cases chords that sound good will be simpler to name than the second example above, and with practise it becomes quite easy to make a good first guess and then confirm it using the steps described.
Say the song you're learning has a weird chord name in it that you don't know how to play. How can you figure out how to play a chord on the guitar without knowing it's shape?
The method here is the reverse of that described in the section above. First you need to work out what notes are in the required chord. As an example, let's try to figure out how to play the chord E7#9.
Perusing the table above, we see that E7#9 is an altered chord (the #9 gives it away) based on some sort of ninth chord. Obviously the note E has got to be there, and if we can manage it E should be the bass note (though this may not always be possible). Now we also need the major 3rd (because it is a major chord) as well as the minor 7th, and the 9th sharpened by one semitone. As this is a 9th-type chord then the 5th is optional, but we should try to work it in if we can.
Consulting our scale of E, we find that the required notes are E, G# (the major 3rd), D (the minor 7th), and G (the sharpened 9th), with B (the 5th) being optional. Time to go to the guitar.
Let's say our guitar is in standard tuning: EADGBE. Well, we already have the right bass note, E, and our D, G, and B are already there as open strings. So all we really need on top of that is the G#. The one string that doesn't fit our chord is the A string, so we know we need to make this into a G# to complete our chord. We can do that by fretting it at the 11th fret (count up in semitones from A to G# in order to figure out which fret to play the note at). That means our chord E7#9 can be played 0(11)0000.
Ouch! That sounds terrible! What went wrong? Well, for a start the G and G# are too close together - if we want to avoid a nasty clash we need to separate them by an octave or so. Also, there is a rule of thumb for high-order chords like 7ths, 9ths, 11ths etc that they tend to sound best with the 7th, 9th or whatever notes as high in the treble as possible. Also, it is good to make sure that the 7th is lower than the 9th.
So let's start again by putting our #9th (the G) as high as possible - 3rd fret on the top E string should do it. Together with the E bass note we now have 0xxxx3. Now let's put the minor 7th (the D note) just below the #9th - 3rd fret on the B string works, and we have 0xxx33. It's looking promising. We now need a G#, and preferably a lowish one so it doesn't clash with that high G. The G# can conveniently go on the first fret of the G string giving us 0xx133. We now have all our compulsory notes, but the B was optional so let's see if we can fit it in. Yep, it fits nicely on the second fret of the A string giving 02x133. Now we can fill up that last remaining string with duplicates of the other notes. It's a D string and D is one of our notes, so we could leave it blank as 020133. But another rule of thumb says you're best to double up on 1sts and 5ths if you have the choice, and here it would be easy to turn that D string into an E (the 1st) by fretting at the second fret. That gives us our final chord: E7#9 = 022133. Yep, it's possible to play that (by flattening the little finger over the B and top E strings at the third fret), and doesn't it sound good!
That was a reasonably complicated example, but you can see how we managed to find a suitable fingering and make the chord sound nice. We used a few tricks that it might pay to re-iterate, along with a couple of other rules worth mentioning:
So that's the basic method, the rest is just practise. Try figuring out the old standards like C and G and D7 from scratch and see what you end up with. You might be surprised at the number of different ways to play them, and the new sound they take on under different fingerings.
© John Kean
Thanks to Gavin Chart for useful suggestions