Chord Naming Convention

Have you encountered some troublesome notation while learning new songs?

Here's a quick rundown with examples that should help clarify some common points of confusion.

If you don't understand how to Build a Chord yet, I recommend you start there first!

Assume that all notes in the chord are MAJOR - unless it's otherwise specified. There is one exception, though: the 7th is assumed to be MINOR. 

Let's look at some examples:

"C" - this indicates a C Major chord. That's a Root Note, Major 3rd, and Perfect 5th.

"C7" - this indicates a C Dominant 7th chord. That's a Root Note, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, and Minor 7th.

"C9"- this indicates a C 9th chord. That's a Root Note, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Minor 7th, and Major 9th.

When we see the modifier "maj" (or sometimes just "M") added to a chord, that's telling us specifically that the 7th is Major.

When we see the modifier "min" (or sometimes just "m") added to a chord, that's telling us specifically that the 3rd is Minor.

They don't affect anything else besides those two intervals in particular.

Let's break down some more examples.

Cmin11:

First of all, we have a C minor. That's a Root Note, a Minor 3rd, and a Perfect 5th. Since we have the notation "11" as well, we need to include the 7th, 9th, and 11ths.

Since it wasn't specified otherwise, we assume the 7th is Minor, and everything else is Major. So the full chord will be:

Root Note, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th, Minor 7th, Major 9th, and a Major 11th.

Cmin7b5:

Another Minor Triad, (1 + b3 +5) with a 7th on top. Again, since it wasn't specified otherwise, we assume our 7th is minor.

Now we have a Root Note, a Minor 3rd, a Perfect 5th, and a Minor 7th. But wait! Lastly, the chord notation specified our 5th is flat.

So, our chord is:

Root Note, Minor 3rd, Flat 5th (or Tritone), and Minor 7th.

You may prefer to think of it as a Diminished Triad with a Minor 7th on top.

Caddb9:

Do you remember what the "add" notation indicates? It means you add the interval in question without including the other extended notes along the way. So we add the 9th here, without including the 7th.

That means we have a standard C Major Triad (1+3+5) with a flatted 9th on top of that. In full, that's:

Root Note, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, and Minor 9th.

If you take only one thing away from this, let it be that everything is assumed to be Major by default, EXCEPT the 7th.

If you can remember that, the rest can be worked out when an unfamiliar chord is encountered. Good luck!