Yamaha Portatone PSR-225 Owner's Manual - The Intervals of The Scale

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Knowing how to read and write chord names is an easy yet invaluable skill.  Chords are often

written in a kind of shorthand that makes them instantly recognizable (and gives you the free-

dom to play them with the voicing or inversion that you prefer).  Once you understand the

basic principles of harmony and chords, it’s very simple to use this shorthand to write out the

chords of a song.

First, write the root note of the chord in an uppercase letter.  If you need to specify sharp or flat,

indicate that to the right of the root.  The chord type should be indicated to the right as well.

Examples for the key of C are shown below.

One important point:

 Chords are made up of notes “stacked” on top of each other, and the

stacked notes are indicated in the chord name of the chord type as a number — the number

being the distance of the note from the root.  (See the keyboard diagram below.)  For example,

the minor 6th chord includes the 6th note of the scale, the major 7th chord has the 7th note of

the scale, etc.

The Intervals of the Scale

To better understand the intervals and the numbers

used to represent them in the chord name, study

this diagram of the C major scale:

Other Chords

5th

4th

C

sus4

Dominant

7th

Diminished

chord

C

m7

b

5

Minor

chord

6th

C

m6

9th

C

(9)

Diminished

7th

(double

flatted 7th)

Diminished

chord

* B

bb

 = A

C

dim7

7th

Major

chord

C

M7

Dominant

7th

Minor

chord

C

m7

Dominant

7th

Major

chord

C

7

C D E F G A B C D E F

Root

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

Octave

9th

11th

Dominant 7th

(flatted 7th)

WRITING CHORD NAMES

C

Major chord

Minor chord

Augmented chord

Diminished chord

C

m

C

aug

C

dim

For simple major chords, the type is omitted.

AUTO ACCOMPANIMENT — THE STYLE MODE