Chord symbols

How do you read a chord symbol?

Every symbol is built in the same order, and you read it left to right. First comes the root, a letter from A to G with ♭ or ♯ if it needs one. Then the quality, which says which notes sit on top of the root: nothing at all means major, m means minor, 7 adds a minor seventh and maj7 a major one. Last comes an optional slash and the lowest note. So Bm7♭5 reads as B, minor, seventh, flat fifth.

The symbol lists the chord; it does not say how to play it. The octave, the order of the notes and which hand takes which are yours to choose, except that a slash names the lowest note (below). Even the notes are not strict: players often leave out the fifth of a seventh chord.

What does the slash in a chord symbol mean?

A slash adds a second letter after the chord: the letter before it is the chord, the letter after it is the lowest note. C/E is a C chord with E in the bass, so the notes are still C, E and G, with E below the others. In C/G the bass is G. When the bass note is not in the chord, as in C/D, it is not an inversion but a different bass under the same chord.

How is a chord symbol different from a Roman numeral?

A symbol names the notes of one chord and says nothing about the key. A Roman numeral names the chord’s place in a key and does not say which notes they are until you know the key. G7 is always G–B–D–F, while V7 is G7 in C, D7 in G and F7 in B♭. Lead sheets print symbols because the player needs the notes; analyses print numerals because the analyst wants the function. In a pop or jazz analysis a plain 6 after a numeral (I6) is a sixth chord, not an inversion; the small raised ⁶ of classical figures (I⁶) is the inversion.