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The naming convention for chords used on this site is different than the standard naming convention. As a matter of fact, there is no one universally agreed upon naming convention for chords. Thus, this website has adopted an updated naming convention which intends to standardize the way chords are named from one to another. For instance, a dominant 7th chord is different from a major 7th chord by whether or not the seventh note is flat or natural. Now consider a ninth chord. It has a flatted seventh note. So why is it not called a dominant ninth chord? When a chord contains a natural seventh and natural ninth note, we call it a major ninth. Do you see the inconsistency here? For one more example, consider the diminished chord. Is it made up of a root, minor third, and diminished fifth? Or is it composed of those notes and a double flatted seventh? It depends on who you are asking. Guitar Viewer takes the position that a diminished chord will be called a minor diminished double flatted seventh. Yes, that is a mouthful, so we shorten it up a bit and write it like this: Minor Dim. ♭♭7th.
The goal is consistency and accuracy.
The downside to instituting a new chord naming convention is that not everyone is using it yet. That can make it hard to find the correct chord. Below are some typical chord names and their equivalent names in the Guitar Viewer naming convention.
That is not a complete list of changes. This list targets the chords that will likely be looked up more often. Once one is comfortable with the changes made to arrive at the names of these chords, one should be rather comfortable with the rest of the chord names.
Whenever a chord has a minor 3rd note in it, that chord name will begin with the word "Minor". In the case where the chord has a major 3rd note, we omit adding the word "Major" in every case except one, which is the Major chord. The word "Major" is reserved for another purpose which will be explained later. We had to leave this one inconsistency because the Major chord is so well known, that changing it would likely lead to much confusion and probably would not gain any broad acceptance.
Whenever a chord has a ♭5th note, which is otherwise known as a diminished 5th, the chord name will have the word "Dim." in it. This is the only way diminished is used in this new naming convention. This avoids all the ambiguity with other conventions. Additionally, it will help when learning to play an instrument because the chord name explains exactly what is different about the chord from other chords.
Whenever a chord has a ♯5th note, which is otherwise known as an augmented 5th, the chord name will have the word "Aug." in it.
The most important change is how 7th notes are dealt with in chord names. In every case where a natural 7th note is contained in a chord, the chord name will contain the phrase "Major 7th". Is the use of the word "Major" inconsistant? Yes. But it is an inconsistency that is already present in the usual naming conventions. As already explained, there is no known way to elminate this inconsistency that will be accepted generally. The good news is Guitar Viewer is far more consistent with seventh notes.
In every case where a ♭7th note is contained in a chord, the chord name will contain the phrase "Dom. 7th".
There is a precise order in which chord names are put together. The order is determined by the order of the intervals in the chord. Since minor 3rd notes come before major 7th notes, the order is the same when naming the chord.
Some of the notes in chords do not appear in the chord names. For instance, 11th and 13th chords are understood to contain a 9th. However, the 9th is not listed in the chord name unless it is a ♭9th or ♯9th. Now, 11th and 13th chords are also understood to contain a dominant 7th. We do always list the Dom. 7th and Major 7th because we feel that there is sufficient confusion about 7th notes in chords so as to warrent specifying which flavor of 7th appears in a chord.
A "suspended" chord means that the chord has no minor 3rd or major 3rd. Usually we see Sus2 and Sus4. Power chords could be considered a suspended chord, i.e., writen plainly as "Sus", but Guitar Viewer writes them as "Power".
An "add" chord is a major chord with one note added to to it. Usually the 2nd or the 4th is added.
As we have seen, this updated naming convention is needed to provide consistent and accurate names for chords. It may take a little bit of time to get used to the new convention, but its utility should shorten that timeframe while aiding in memory retention. One last note: if the chord list, which is far from exhaustive, does not have a particular chord that you would like to see in there, please let us know via the contact page.