Writing Chord Names; The Intervals Of The Scale; Other Chords - Yamaha PSR-195 PSR-79 Manual

Writing Chord Names

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.
Major chord
C
For simple major chords, the type is omitted.
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

C
sus4
5th 4th
C
M7
7th Major
chord
Selecting and Playing Styles — The Style Mode
Minor chord Augmented chord
C
m
C
7
Dominant Major
7th chord
C
m7b5
Dominant Diminished
7th chord
Diminished chord
C C
aug
C D E F G A B C D E F
Root 4th
3rd
2nd 5th
C
m7
Dominant Minor
7th chord
C
m6
Minor 6th
chord
dim
Dominant 7th
(flatted 7th)
Octave 11th
7th
9th
6th
C
(9)
9th
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