How to identify the root note of a chord

Question

I struggle with chords on the staff because I'm not sure which note is the root note. Is it the top note with the rest of the notes falling below it? E.g., The top note is C, and bundled below it are a F and a G making it a C Major triad? Also, what about the situation where the stem of the note, if it's a quarter note for instance is facing downward?

I'm quite new to reading piano notation as I'm from a drumming background so I'm a little intimidated because in drum notation you don't have to so quickly determine the fine placement of the note between the staff lines.

Answer 1

The root note is always the note that is the basis for the chord, regardless of its inversion. In root posiition the lowest note is the root (hence the name), but other notes are the lowest in other inversions of the chord.

For example, take a C Major chord. In every position, the root note is C. Whether it is voiced as C-E-G (root position), E-G-C (first inversion), or G-C-E (second inversion) is irrelevant. (The voicing is always given from the lowest note to the highest.)

There are multiple ways to interpret chords as well. For example, C-E-A could be considered a C Major 6th in root position or an A minor chord in first inversion. How you interpret it depends upon its function in the song as well as the song's key. In the key of A minor you would definitely consider it to be an A minor chord.

C-E-A could also be considered a rootless F Major 7th chord (normally F-A-C-E) in second inversion. You might interpret it this way in certain F Major pieces, for example. In this case you might say it has no root, or that the root is an "implied" F.

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As for reading the notation and playing it, a couple points:

• The directions of the note beams (the "neck of the note") are irrelevant, they're mostly aesthetic.
• In most cases, it doesn't matter which note is technically the root. You'd be playing the same notes regardless.

Answer 2

One way to think of chords is you're playing a few selected notes from a chord that stretches from sub-bass to ultra-sonic. So the full C major chord contains all the Cs, all the Es and all the Gs. With enough pairs of hands, you could play 8 octaves' worth of this chord on a piano.

This is a C major chord, and C is the root note. All of the Cs are root notes -- there isn't one particular C that's "more root" than the others, although a particularly loud C in the bass register might help anchor it for the listener.

Now, no matter how many notes you take away from this "full" chord, it will remain consistent with being a C major chord.

• If you take away all but three neighbouring notes, you'll have a triad. There are three inversions you can get this way. Regardless of which you get, C is still the root note.
• If you take away all the Es, you've removed the note which distinguishes C major from C minor.
• If you take away all the Cs, it's still consistent with being a C major, but the "C major-ness" is weakened (and the "E minor-ness" is strengthened)
• The more note letters you remove, the more ambiguous the chord is.

In general a triad is the most unambiguous chord. The root is present. The fifth reinforces the root. The third tells you whether it's minor or major.

Adding notes makes things more ambiguous, taking away notes makes things more ambiguous, and this is where context helps.

Answer 3

It might also help if you figure out the FUNCTION of the chords. I can't easily tell what chord is what without realizing its function.

For example, the most common cadence is V-I. If you're in the key of F major, V is C and I is F. If you have a chord that looks C-ish going to a chord that looks F-ish, that might be your answer! Also, use your ear -- does it sound like a cadence? Does it sound like the piece keeps moving? Is there tension in the chord (aurally)?

Also, stack your chords in thirds. That is what everyone above just did, and I don't think it was necessarily explained well. A C triad is C E G (with whatever accidentals you want to change the quality of the chord, e.g., Eb for minor chord) -- it doesn't matter if you have the E in the bass or the G in the bass, it'll still be a C chord. (There are reasons for why a composer might write one versus the other, but that's a different story.)

As a basic piano student, it will also be useful to know this: in a cadence (like V-I) there are often V7 chords. This has a root, third, fifth and seventh. In our C chord example, that'd be C E G Bb (because we're in F major). In order to make this easily playable by a pianist, it is notated a specific way -- E Bb C. This is missing the fifth, or G. It is a) common to drop the fifth of seventh chords and b) recognizable by its shape to be a V7 chord. Knowing that it's a V7 chord will tell you where the root is, because it will always be in the same place when notated like that.

Did that help or hinder?