Music theory may sound boring at first, but once you have mastered the basics, you will be able to find out how to make all the chords by yourself. You will never be afraid of any chords, whatever their weird names. Chord manuals, tabs or grids are often useful, but the best way is to understand how chords are settled, rather than trying to memorise all of them.
Once you understand the directions on this page, you will be able to play all the website's song sheets on any instrument. Guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin, accordeon, etc, principles are always the same.
Bass note or root note
Most of the time, the bass note is the fundamental (or root) note of the chord. The fundamental will give it’s name to the entire chord.
This particular symbol " / " means the bass note will not be the fundamental of the chord, but one other note from the chord itself.
Examples:
Am:
(X02210)
Am/E :
(002210) A minor, but E is the bass note
C:
(X32010)
C/G :
(332010) C minor, but G is the bass note
Chords Notation
Syllabic Notation
Alphabetical Notation
Do
C
Ré
D
Mi
E
Fa
F
Sol
G
La
A
Si
B
Basic chord settlements
Major chord: root + major third + fifth
C: C - E - G
Minor chord: root + minor third + fifth
Cm: C - E♭ - G
Dominant 7th chord: oot + major third + fifth + minor seventh
C7: C - E - G - B♭
Major 7th chord: root + major third + fifth + major seventh
Cmaj7: C - E - G - B
Minor 7th chord: root + minor third + fifth + minor seventh
Cm7: C - E♭ - G - B♭
Minor major 7th chord: root + minor third + fifth + major seventh
Cm(maj7): C - E♭ - G - B
6th chord: root + major third + fifth + major sixth
C6: C - E - G - A
Diminished chord: root + minor third + diminished fifth
C(dim): C - E♭ - G♭
Diminished 7th chord: root + minor third + diminished fifth + sixth
