Finding Chord Names

[BT55]

I download a lot of songs guitar chord arrangements. The problem with many of the songs is that they have incorrect or missing chords. I rewrite the music correcting the inaccuracies so that I can have an good copy. My problem is that many times I cannot find the correct chord names that I insert. I have chord bibles but at many times I cannot find the chord. Is there any reference that allows notes to be inserted and the program provides the chord name?

[llew]

Try chorderator.com

[cmd612]

https://www.scales-chords.com/chordid.php

http://musictheorysite.com/namethatchord/

[Daniel Grenier]

Chordfind.com might help

[JimmerO]

I use an iPhone app called Chord Bank.

It has forward and reverse chord naming. It used to be free but I think it's a pay app now.

[merlin666]

Smartchord for Android is a great app.Lots of features in the free version, but worthwhile to buy (xmas special may still be on).

[rogthefrog]

Learn chord basics. No need for an app.

A basic chord is root, 3rd, 5th, 7th. Find the root, then find the 3rd. If it's minor, you have a minor chord, else major. Find the 5th. If flat, you have a diminished chord. Etc.

No third? You may have a suspended chord. If there's a 2nd, it's a sus2. If there's a 4th, it's a sus4.

The root is often the lowest note. Not always but it's a place to start.

With a little practice you can name any chord.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by BT55

I download a lot of songs guitar chord arrangements. The problem with many of the songs is that they have incorrect or missing chords. I rewrite the music correcting the inaccuracies so that I can have an good copy. My problem is that many times I cannot find the correct chord names that I insert. I have chord bibles but at many times I cannot find the chord. Is there any reference that allows notes to be inserted and the program provides the chord name?

Hi BT55

I had 17 hours of theory classes in College (as a music major), and naming chords is part 'science', part 'discretion', and part 'art'.

An issue with naming guitar chords is they don't indicate range, inversion or position on the neck. Different chord charts/books/chord-bibles/experts may well name the particular chord you are playing differently from each other.

It seems like you are looking for the proper notes, not a proper name. The purpose of chord names should be to clarify, and elaborate, not complicate.

Things which affect chord names are The Original key, Chords Preceding and Following the particular chord you are trying to name, notes other instruments are playing, etc. My perspective is chords don't exist in a vacuum.

Simple Example…
In the key of C, the notes e-g-b could be an Em chord, or they could be a partial inversion of a CM7 chord, or they could be the top three notes of an Am9 partial chord.

Instead of names, it's often easier for me to score or spell out the notes than giving chords a name. And if I chart it on a guitar-neck-chart (I have a template to print out 15 fret fingerboards), then I'll remember it better and can show it to someone else.

When I'm leading and playing with other musicians and trying to translate/transfer chords to them, I'll often play and name the notes while they find the notes on their instrument in the same range, and perhaps in a different inversion so they don't change the character of the chord I intended.

When I'm backing other musicians, I need to be sure my version of a chord doesn't change the nature and flavor of their chord in ways it's undesirable to them.

I once found myself in an argument with two other knowledgeable music theory guys about the name of a chord in a song we were listening to, which we were really not that interested in, and certainly never going to play.

All three names were accurate, and we could have reconstructed the chord from the names we gave it. But we were arguing about the name, not the notes themselves. It didn't matter what we called it.

Hope this adds to the discussion…

[rick-slo]

Programs will give correct chord name most of time in straight forward simpler music. Some programs indicate which chords are native to the key.
There may be various chord name possibilities for any given set of notes. The best name often depends on the context. Chord naming programs
don't consider context other than the key (most don't do that either).

[mercy]

I have something I call THE RULE OF THUMB. So the thumb is the root, the middle finger is the 3rd and the pinky the fifth. How can this help yo that do not know the root? Well just keep patting your fingers on something putting the notes in and it will appear.

[maxtheaxe]

Naming a chord depends to large extent upon what function that chord serves within the given key. It can also become confusing when you consider that the notes themselves have at least 2 different names and again, what you call it depends on what key you're in. In Music Theory they're referred to as 'enharmonic equivalents', for example, a C# is the same note as a Db.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by JimmerO

I use an iPhone app called Chord Bank.

It has forward and reverse chord naming. It used to be free but I think it's a pay app now.

It's still free...just Ads.

[cotten]

I had a student one time who was a pretty good musician, though illiterate in terms of written notation. One day, as he was playing a song he threw in a chord that sounded great, but I suspected he didn't know. I asked him what that chord name was. He called it Fine-o. Fine-o? Yes, that is its last name. Its first name is ___-if! We laughed, I corrected his vocabulary and taught him the right chord name. (I think he was 12 at the time.)

cotten

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi BT55

I had 17 hours of theory classes in College (as a music major), and naming chords is part 'science', part 'discretion', and part 'art'.

An issue with naming guitar chords is they don't indicate range, inversion or position on the neck. Different chord charts/books/chord-bibles/experts may well name the particular chord you are playing differently from each other.

It seems like you are looking for the proper notes, not a proper name. The purpose of chord names should be to clarify, and elaborate, not complicate.

Things which affect chord names are The Original key, Chords Preceding and Following the particular chord you are trying to name, notes other instruments are playing, etc. My perspective is chords don't exist in a vacuum.

Simple Example…
In the key of C, the notes e-g-b could be an Em chord, or they could be a partial inversion of a CM7 chord, or they could be the top three notes of an Am9 partial chord.

Instead of names, it's often easier for me to score or spell out the notes than giving chords a name. And if I chart it on a guitar-neck-chart (I have a template to print out 15 fret fingerboards), then I'll remember it better and can show it to someone else.

When I'm leading and playing with other musicians and trying to translate/transfer chords to them, I'll often play and name the notes while they find the notes on their instrument in the same range, and perhaps in a different inversion so they don't change the character of the chord I intended.

When I'm backing other musicians, I need to be sure my version of a chord doesn't change the nature and flavor of their chord in ways it's undesirable to them.

I once found myself in an argument with two other knowledgeable music theory guys about the name of a chord in a song we were listening to, which we were really not that interested in, and certainly never going to play.

All three names were accurate, and we could have reconstructed the chord from the names we gave it. But we were arguing about the name, not the notes themselves. It didn't matter what we called it.

Hope this adds to the discussion…

My guitar teacher is starting to broach all that with me now.
I have been playing for a good long while and I want to know some theory before I hang it up.
I find it fascinating now. When I was 20, not so much.

[Seagull S6]

A keyboard is a very good way to help in understand note and chord relationships.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imj7FniRzyY