Do You Know The Names Of The Chords You’re Playing?
Posted on 18. Sep, 2013 by Greg Hannon in Ask Greg
Question?
My question is when you see a chord like this C or G2 and A11no3 what do these number notations mean. By the way I really like your videos.
Answer
The answer to your question lies within an understanding of music theory. Music theory is the science of music that deals with the knowledge of chord, scales, progressions, keys, rhythm, melody and harmonic application and how all tonal music work together. The more you know about music theory, the greater your musical creativity and virtuosity will be.
In order to understand chord names & symbols, you must first understand the major scale and the scale tone numbers as well as the formulas for chords like the ones you listed above.
Let’s look at the chords you specifically asked about. The C, G2, and A11no3.
C– This is the symbol for the C major chord. Based on the C major scale the formula for this chord is the 1st, 3rd, and 5th (C E G) scale tones of the C major scale. All 12 major chords and triads can be found in the resource guide of my Contemporary Chord Finder learning system
G2 – This is the symbol for a G major chord with an added second. Based on the G major scale, the formula for this chord is the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th (G A B D) scale tones of the G major scale. All 12 major chords with the added 2nd can be found in the resource guide of my Contemporary Chord Finder learning system
A11no3 – This is the symbol for an “A” dominant eleventh chord without the 3rd. Based on the A major scale, the formula for this chord is the 1st, 3rd, 5th b7th, 9th and 11th
(A C# E G B D) scale tones of the A major scale. For the “no3” portion of this chord, you must omit the 3rd. The most popular voicing of this chord used in contemporary music would be (A / D G B). All 12 Dominant Eleventh without the 3rd can be found in the resource guide of my Contemporary Chord Finder