Yamaha PortaTone PSR-260 Owner's Manual page 50

Selecting and Playing Styles
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Writing Chord Names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Knowing how to read and write chord names is an easy yet invaluable skill. Chords are often writ-
ten in a kind of shorthand that makes them instantly recognizable (and gives you the freedom 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. Exam-
ples 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 dis-
tance 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
C
M7
7th Major chord
50
Major chord Minor chord
C C
For simple major chords, the type is omitted.
C
7
4th Dominant Major chord
7th
C
m7b5
Dominant Diminished
7th chord
Augmented chord
C
m aug
C D E F G A B C D E F
Root
3rd
2nd
C
m7
Dominant Minor chord
7th
C
m6
Minor 6th
chord
Diminished chord
C
dim
Dominant 7th (flatted 7th)
4th 7th 11th
6th 9th
5th Octave
C
(9)
9th