What chord is this?

[Cecil6243]

How do I determine what chord this is without trying to find it on a chord chart? I'm writing a song where I'm fingerpicking this chord, and know some music theory but...

I believe it's a form of an A chord as A is the root with a 7th added, which is the G# as in A,B,C#,D,E,F#,G# which would make the G# a 7th? Or have I got this all wrong? Is there a name for this chord?

An A chord just has an A, C#, and E right? That would also make it some kind of A chord?

[Cecil6243]

I cheated! I found it on a chord chart! Amaj7!

How would I determine what it is using theory though?

[mr. beaumont]

Yes it is. Here's how to figure that out without a chord chart.

Take any major scale. Let's use C as it's nice and easy with no sharps or flats...

C D E F G A B

If we take the first, third, and fifth notes, we have a Major chord.

C E G

If we add the seventh note, it becomes a Maj7 chord.

C E G B


There's a formula for every chord. Learn those, and the entire neck of the guitar is YOURS.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

I cheated! I found it on a chord chart! Amaj7!

How would I determine what it is using theory though?

1. You need to know what notes are in the chord (and name them correctly).
2. You need to know how chords are built.

The trick with (1) is to make sure (if you can) that you only have one of each note letter. Adjust sharps or flats accordingly. So the note on 3rd string is either G# or Ab. But you already have A on 5th string, so it must be G#.
The note on 2nd string is C# or Db. So because it's unusual ot have both flats and sharps in a chord or scale (can happen, but quite rare), safer to call it C#.

The basic rule of (2) is "alternate letters." Take all the notes you've got and arrange them so they make alternate steps in the alphabet. (Remember the bass note is not necssarily the root of the chord.)
In this case, that gives you A C# E G#. 1-3-5-7.
To name the chord, you now need some interval knowledge (knowing the fretboard helps here).
So, A-E (strings 5-4) make a perfect 5th - as in a power chord, right? So now the chord can only be major or minor (not diminished or augmented...).
A "major" chord is where the 3rd is 4 half-steps above the root.
A "minor" chord is where the 3rd is 3 half-steps above the root.
In this case, C# is 4 half-steps above A (check this on one string if you like), so it's an A major chord. (I guess you migh have spotted that similarity already...)

Now you're just left with that G#. G# is the 7th, and (like 3rds) there are two kinds:
Minor 7th = 10 half-steps above the root (2 below)
Major 7th = 11 half-steps above the root (1 below)

Minor 7ths are the default, so if the note was plain G, you would have an "A7". But here the 7th is the rarer major kind, so we add "maj": "Amaj7". (That's important: the "maj" refers to the 7th only, not the chord itself. The chord is "A with a major 7th", not "A major with a 7th". )

OK, that's pretty long-winded (and it gets more complicated with sus chords, 9ths and so on...), but once you get the principles it's not hard.

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Yes it is. Here's how to figure that out without a chord chart.

Take any major scale. Let's use C as it's nice and easy with no sharps or flats...

C D E F G A B

If we take the first, third, and fifth notes, we have a Major chord.

C E G

If we add the seventh note, it becomes a Maj7 chord.

C E G B


There's a formula for every chord. Learn those, and the entire neck of the guitar is YOURS.

Thank you much appreciated!

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by JonPR

1. You need to know what notes are in the chord (and name them correctly).
2. You need to know how chords are built.

The trick with (1) is to make sure (if you can) that you only have one of each note letter. Adjust sharps or flats accordingly. So the note on 3rd string is either G# or Ab. But you already have A on 5th string, so it must be G#.
The note on 2nd string is C# or Db. So because it's unusual ot have both flats and sharps in a chord or scale (can happen, but quite rare), safer to call it C#.

The basic rule of (2) is "alternate letters." Take all the notes you've got and arrange them so they make alternate steps in the alphabet. (Remember the bass note is not necssarily the root of the chord.)
In this case, that gives you A C# E G#. 1-3-5-7.
To name the chord, you now need some interval knowledge (knowing the fretboard helps here).
So, A-E (strings 5-4) make a perfect 5th - as in a power chord, right? So now the chord can only be major or minor (not diminished or augmented...).
A "major" chord is where the 3rd is 4 half-steps above the root.
A "minor" chord is where the 3rd is 3 half-steps above the root.
In this case, C# is 4 half-steps above A (check this on one string if you like), so it's an A major chord. (I guess you migh have spotted that similarity already...)

Now you're just left with that G#. G# is the 7th, and (like 3rds) there are two kinds:
Minor 7th = 10 half-steps above the root (2 below)
Major 7th = 11 half-steps above the root (1 below)

Minor 7ths are the default, so if the note was plain G, you would have an "A7". But here the 7th is the rarer major kind, so we add "maj": "Amaj7". (That's important: the "maj" refers to the 7th only, not the chord itself. The chord is "A with a major 7th", not "A major with a 7th". )

OK, that's pretty long-winded (and it gets more complicated with sus chords, 9ths and so on...), but once you get the principles it's not hard.

Thank you Jon! Appreciated!

[Gordon Currie]

Well, there are methods (or hacks as people like to call them currently) to ascertain chords. My early method was to count frets.

I would first try to figure out which is the root note. Everything relates to that.
In a majority of popular music, it is the bottom note. Good place to start.

- look for a perfect fifth (7 frets above a root).
- look for a third (3 frets for minor, 4 frets for major).
By doing this, you are seeing if it contains the 'recipe' for a major or minor triad.

Each chord tone has it's own distance from the root (dominant/minor 7th = 10 frets, major 7th = 11 frets, and so on).
(I used to have a written listing when I started out to help remember.)

In your example, the major 3rd is the highest note. This makes it more difficult as you need to find it's equivalent closer to the root.
Once you find that C# one octave down, the note is 4 frets above the bottom A. Bingo. It is a major third.

Now the final note (G#) - it is 11 frets above the root. Major 7th.

This may seem complicated, but it quickly becomes second nature and quick.
Bonuses include learning the fretboard (ah, so THAT'S another place I can play an F) and visual pattern recognition of certain shapes.

(I see there are two good responses while I was writing mine. There are differences in method, but all rely on knowing the 'formula' or 'recipe' for building chords. I recommend finding or creating a cheat sheet for this. You will use it a LOT before it becomes second nature.)

[RichardP]

Amaj7 was the first thing that came to mind...but if you are playing something in E that shape makes a nice, quick C#min.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by RichardP

Amaj7 was the first thing that came to mind...but if you are playing something in E that shape makes a nice, quick C#min.

Hi RichardP
It would technically be C#m/A

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

I cheated! I found it on a chord chart! Amaj7!

How would I determine what it is using theory though?

Many good suggestions. My method is a bit different than those so I'll post it in case it works better for you (or just as an alternative, in that there's more than 1 way to skin a cat).

1. Find the notes. In this case, they are: A E G# C# E. To do this, just count the frets (more likely just knowing the notes from their fret locations). When it's on a guitar, sometimes, I determine the scale and key (steps #2 and #3) by seeing that "box" (CAGED system) where I can play all the notes.

2. Determine the scale (there can be more than 1 name for chords) without knowing the key. To do this, you need to either hear or see the music (or you can just assume major scale if it's pop music).

3. Find the key by looking at the key signature. From step #2, we know it's a major scale; we see that there's C# and G#; being major scale we'd also assume F# is there. Knowing the key signatures, we'd know that F#, C#, and G# = possibly A major (or E major, or B major, etc.). To do this accurately, you can read the key signature directly off the music, try the last note, get a feel for the tonic from the beginning of the song, or using the existing notes and make a guess (we I did here).

4. Now we guess A major; we just need to name the chord. Here, we see that we've got the A chord: A C# E, plus its 7-th degree note of G#. We now can say this chord is call AMaj7 because the notes fits nicely.

[mr. beaumont]

The trick is to know your major scales. Then you need to figure out what the root of the chord in question is. It's often the lowest note...but not always.

Anyway, once you know your major scales, you can simply apply chord formulas. Use the major scale for constructing everything...even minor chords.

scale degrees are numbered, where the 1 is the Root, or "R"

R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Major chord: R 3 5

Minor chord R, b3, 5

That means we lower the third note by a half step.

Maj7: R 3 5 7

7th chord: R 3 5 b7

(Maj7 and 7 often cause confusion because a 7th chord has a b7, there's theory behind the why there, but just take it for what it is right now)

There's a ton of other formulas...if you are interested, I could go further, don't want to type just to be pedantic. But I really feel this stuff is so key to understanding the guitar, and music in general.

[Cecil6243]

Now I'm thoroughly confused!

Just kidding!