Chord Style Guide

The chord charts that accompany some of the songs are written in a numeric style. Use of this style makes it much easier to transpose a song into a different key than if a chord chart in a single key was provided. Those familiar with music theory, will know how to read these. However, for those who do not we offer the following brief explanation.

The roman numerals represent chords based on various notes of the scale. Capital letter represent major chords while lower case letters represent minor chords. For example, in the key of C: 

I	C major chord		C E G
ii	D minor chord		D F A
iii	E minor chord		E G B
IV	F major chord		F A C
V	G major chord		G B D

It should be noted that these chords contain only the notes of the C major scale.

Further notation is used to denote more complex chords, for example in the key of F:

vi7     D minor seventh chord           D F A C
Vsus6   C major suspended 6th           C E A
IV/V    Bb major chord with C bass      Bb D F with a C bass
V/VII   C major chord with E bass       C E G with an E bass
V7+     C chord with a major 7th added  C E G B

For further clarity, the – sign is used to denote minor chords (in addition to lower case representation. For further information on this style of notation, please see Barry Leisch’s article on improvisation in a church setting.