In theory, the name of a chord should describe its content, especially if it differs from the root-3rd-5th of a standard major chord. In guitar circles, describing a chord as ‘G’ without any other ...

Let’s be clear: there’s no such thing as an ‘acoustic guitar chord’. If a guitar has a standard fretboard, then, acoustic or electric, all chord shapes are fair game. However, some chords do sound ...

Terms such as ‘altered’ and ‘extended’ chords are relatively simple to explain. Extended chords add other notes from the scale to the existing root-3rd-5th triad (for example, C-E-G), so if we add a ...

A normal C major chord is C-E-G, but you can easily change it to E-G-C, called the 'first inversion', or G-C-E, the 'second inversion' - the bass note has changed, but it's still the same chord, with ...

A study suggests that minor and major seventh chords are the happiest sounds in music, but today’s songwriters are ditching them in favour of simple minor chords. But why does this matter? We all love ...

The "Neapolitan 6th" chord (N6) is another sonority whose definition is based on the triad that it makes, which is a vertical perspective that glosses over its actual horizontal function. It is ...