Hello

I really need some help with naming chords. I have been working in a number of books, everytime I think I understand, I make a mistake - arghhhh, I really can't get my head round this.

Can anybody help please.

Many Thanks

Try writing down the note names first.
Next shuffle them around until you get a nice tidy triad.
This will help you to identify the chord.
Next you can work out which note of the scale this is built on (I, II, IV or V).
Now look at the bass note in the score, this gives you the inversion.
As an example if it's a chord of C major (C E G) a C in the bass is root position; E in the bass is first inversion (b) and G in the bass is second inversion ( c ).

Great, many thanks sbhoa, that has helped. Goodness, once you understand it, its actually quite easy!

Thanks

For this type of question I get my pupils to write a chart on the rough paper first. First they decide on the key and then work out what the four possible chords are, writing them as four rows. Once they have done this they put the letters a, b and c at the top of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th columns. Then it's just a case of looking at the notes in the music to decide which chord you are looking at. Once that is done you look for the lowest note in the chord in the music. You find that letter in your table and then look up to the top of the column, where you will find whether it is root position (a), 1st inversion (b) or 2nd inversion ©.

Here's an example table:

C major

a b c
I C E G
II D F A
IV F A C
V G B D

If the chord was (from bottom upwards) A, C, F, C. You would see that it is the subdominant chord. Finding the A in the row, you would look to the top of that column and discover that you need to write b after the number. Thus the chord is IVb.

Full marks here we come!


EDIT: The above chart isn't very good. As the inversion letters are in the wrong place. When it's written out or using Publisher it works a treat!

I do the same chart as JohnS except I put the notes of the chords in columns rather than rows.

Hi JOHN S is my teacher and both his methods fir chords at cadential points /columns work !

Yorkie