Chord symbols
How to read the chord symbols written over lyrics and lead sheets, from a plain major chord to tensions.
Essential
Content under musical review. It may contain inaccuracies.
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How to read the chord symbols written over lyrics and lead sheets, from a plain major chord to tensions.
Essential
A chord symbol is shorthand for a chord. A letter (or a syllable, if you use solfège) gives the root, and whatever follows gives the chord type. Just by reading the symbol you know which notes make up the chord, even before you choose a shape to play it.
The same root with four different suffixes:
The most common suffixes, all on C:
| Symbol | Variants | Notes | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | CM | 1 3 5 | major |
| Cm | Cmin, C− | 1 b3 5 | minor |
| C7 | — | 1 3 5 b7 | dominant seventh |
| Cmaj7 | CΔ, CM7 | 1 3 5 7 | major seventh |
| Cm7 | C−7, Cmin7 | 1 b3 5 b7 | minor seventh |
| Cm7♭5 | Cø | 1 b3 b5 b7 | half-diminished |
| Cdim | C° | 1 b3 b5 | diminished |
| Caug | C+ | 1 3 #5 | augmented |
| Csus4 | — | 1 4 5 | suspended fourth |
| C5 | — | 1 5 | power chord |
Open the chord explorer and change the type while keeping the root. Watch which note changes each time:
Explore chords on one root See the dominant seventhThree keys to avoid mix-ups:
Suffixes are never translated. If you use solfège, the root changes name, but "m7", "sus4" or "add9" stay as they are.
"add9" adds the ninth without a seventh: Cadd9. "sus2" and "sus4" replace the third with the second or fourth, so the chord is neither major nor minor. "6" adds the major sixth: C6. Practise switching between chords with different symbols without losing the beat.
The numbers 9, 11 and 13 mark tensions stacked above the seventh. When altered, the accidental goes before the number: G7♭9, G7♯9, Cmaj7♯11. "alt" (G7alt) lets the player choose altered ninths and fifths. In the 1970s Brandt and Roemer proposed a standardised chord-symbol system that many publishers follow; even so, you'll meet variants, so always read in context.