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Recognizing the intervals between notes is very vital in understanding and being able to identify chords, but there is a lot more to it then that especially since you may play the chord in any voicing where the notes of the chord are not in an order you recognize and you may also only be playing part of the chord. To be able to identify chords efficiently, you need to understand the building blocks of them and be able to arrange them so they make sense.

##Breakdown of a Voicings

Let's look at this example below:

These three notes come together to make a chord. From bottom up, the notes are B♭, E, and C. Just by looking at all the intervals, you see B♭ up to E is an augmented fourth (A4), B♭ to C is a major second (M2) or major ninth (M9) depending on how you want to look at it and E to C is a minor sixth (m6).

Looking at B♭ as the root doesn't get you too far as you only have an augmented 4th and a major second which isn't a typically defined chord. However if you play with the order that you are looking at the notes, you'll see something very different. If we want to look at C as the root, then we have a major third (M3) from C to E and we have a minor seventh (m7) from C to B♭. Now if you look at typically built chords you see that we have everything we need to build a dominant 7th chord to get a C7 except the 5th which is omitted, but that is typical for the 5th.

This may not be a common voicing for a C7, but you should be able to recognize it. Switching the order of the notes will help a lot when you don't really see what is going on due to the voicing and after practicing, you'll be able to rearrange the notes in your head no problem.

##Closed Voicings

Another thing that helps recognize chords is understanding the basic closed position chord shapes/voicings. Let's take a look at an example:

All three chords are a C major triad, but in different closed position voicings. The first is a root position where you have the root, third, and fifth of the chord in that order. The next is a first inversion closed position voicing where you have the third, fifth, and root of the chord in that order. The last is a second inversion closed position voicing where you have the fifth, root, and third in that order. If you spot one of these closed position triads, it's easy to identity the root and from there determining the chord will be much easier.

Recognizing the intervals between notes is very vital in understanding and being able to identify chords, but there is a lot more to it then that especially since you may play the chord in any voicing where the notes of the chord are not in an order you recognize and you may also only be playing part of the chord. To be able to identify chords efficiently, you need to understand the building blocks of them and be able to arrange them so they make sense.

Breakdown of a Voicings

Let's look at this example below:

These three notes come together to make a chord. From bottom up, the notes are B♭, E, and C. Just by looking at all the intervals, you see B♭ up to E is an augmented fourth (A4), B♭ to C is a major second (M2) or major ninth (M9) depending on how you want to look at it and E to C is a minor sixth (m6).

Looking at B♭ as the root doesn't get you too far as you only have an augmented 4th and a major second which isn't a typically defined chord. However if you play with the order that you are looking at the notes, you'll see something very different. If we want to look at C as the root, then we have a major third (M3) from C to E and we have a minor seventh (m7) from C to B♭. Now if you look at typically built chords you see that we have everything we need to build a dominant 7th chord to get a C7 except the 5th which is omitted, but that is typical for the 5th.

This may not be a common voicing for a C7, but you should be able to recognize it. Switching the order of the notes will help a lot when you don't really see what is going on due to the voicing and after practicing, you'll be able to rearrange the notes in your head no problem.

Close Voicings

Another thing that helps recognize chords is understanding the basic close position chord shapes/voicings. Let's take a look at an example:

All three chords are a C major triad, but in different close position voicings. The first is a root position where you have the root, third, and fifth of the chord in that order. The next is a first inversion close position voicing where you have the third, fifth, and root of the chord in that order. The last is a second inversion close position voicing where you have the fifth, root, and third in that order. If you spot one of these close position triads, it's easy to identity the root and from there determining the chord will be much easier.

Recognizing the intervals between notes is very vital in understanding and being able to identify chords, but there is a lot more to it then that especially since you may play the chord in any voicing where the notes of the chord are not in an order you recognize and you may also only be playing part of the chord. To be able to identify chords efficiently, you need to understand the building blocks of them and be able to arrange them so they make sense.

Let's look at this example below:

These three notes come together to make a chord. From bottom up, the notes are B♭, E, and C. Just by looking at all the intervals, you see B♭ up to E is an augmented fourth (A4), B♭ to C is a major second (M2) or major ninth (M9) depending on how you want to look at it and E to C is a minor sixth (m6).

Looking at B♭ as the root doesn't get you too far as you only have an augmented 4th and a major second which isn't a typically defined chord. However if you play with the order that you are looking at the notes, you'll see something very different. If we want to look at C as the root, then we have a major third (M3) from C to E and we have a minor seventh (m7) from C to B♭. Now if you look at typically built chords you see that we have everything we need to build a dominant 7th chord to get a C7 except the 5th which is omitted, but that is typical for the 5th.

This may not be a common voicing for a C7, but you should be able to recognize it. Switching the order of the notes will help a lot when you don't really see what is going on due to the voicing and after practicing, you'll be able to rearrange the notes in your head no problem.

Another thing that helps recognize chords is understanding the basic closed position chord shapes. Let's take a look at an example:

All three chords are a C major triad, but in diffenrt closed position voicings. The first is a root position where you have the root, third, and fifth of the chord in that order. The next is a first inversion closed position voicing where you have the third, fifth, and root of the chord in that order. The last is a second inversion closed position voicing where you have the fifth, root, and third in that order. If you spot one of these closed position triads, it's easy to identity the root and from there determining the chord will be much easier.

Recognizing the intervals between notes is very vital in understanding and being able to identify chords, but there is a lot more to it then that especially since you may play the chord in any voicing where the notes of the chord are not in an order you recognize and you may also only be playing part of the chord. To be able to identify chords efficiently, you need to understand the building blocks of them and be able to arrange them so they make sense.

##Breakdown of a Voicings

Let's look at this example below:

These three notes come together to make a chord. From bottom up, the notes are B♭, E, and C. Just by looking at all the intervals, you see B♭ up to E is an augmented fourth (A4), B♭ to C is a major second (M2) or major ninth (M9) depending on how you want to look at it and E to C is a minor sixth (m6).

Looking at B♭ as the root doesn't get you too far as you only have an augmented 4th and a major second which isn't a typically defined chord. However if you play with the order that you are looking at the notes, you'll see something very different. If we want to look at C as the root, then we have a major third (M3) from C to E and we have a minor seventh (m7) from C to B♭. Now if you look at typically built chords you see that we have everything we need to build a dominant 7th chord to get a C7 except the 5th which is omitted, but that is typical for the 5th.

This may not be a common voicing for a C7, but you should be able to recognize it. Switching the order of the notes will help a lot when you don't really see what is going on due to the voicing and after practicing, you'll be able to rearrange the notes in your head no problem.

##Closed Voicings

Another thing that helps recognize chords is understanding the basic closed position chord shapes/voicings. Let's take a look at an example:

All three chords are a C major triad, but in different closed position voicings. The first is a root position where you have the root, third, and fifth of the chord in that order. The next is a first inversion closed position voicing where you have the third, fifth, and root of the chord in that order. The last is a second inversion closed position voicing where you have the fifth, root, and third in that order. If you spot one of these closed position triads, it's easy to identity the root and from there determining the chord will be much easier.

Recognizing the intervals between notes is very vital in understanding and being able to identify chords, but there is a lot more to it then that especially since you may play the chord in any voicing where the notes of the chord are not in an order you recognize and you may also only be playing part of the chord. To be able to identify chords efficiently, you need to understand the building blocks of them and be able to arrange them so they make sense.

Let's look at this example below:

These three notes come together to make a chord. From bottom up, the notes are B♭, E, and C. Just by looking at all the intervals, you see B♭ up to E is an augmented fourth (A4), B♭ to C is a major second (M2) or major ninth (M9) depending on how you want to look at it and E to C is a minor sixth (m6).

Looking at B♭ as the root doesn't get you too far as you only have an augmented 4th and a major second which isn't a typically defined chord. However if you play with the order that you are looking at the notes, you'll see something very different. If we want to look at C as the root, then we have a major third (M3) from C to E and we have a minor seventh (m7) from C to B♭. Now if you look at typically built chords you see that we have everything we need to build a dominant 7th chord to get a C7 except the 5th which is omitted, but that is typical for the 5th.

This may not be a common voicing for a C7, but you should be able to recognize it. Switching the order of the notes will help a lot when you don't really see what is going on due to the voicing and after practicing, you'll be able to rearrange the notes in your head no problem.

Recognizing the intervals between notes is very vital in understanding and being able to identify chords, but there is a lot more to it then that especially since you may play the chord in any voicing where the notes of the chord are not in an order you recognize and you may also only be playing part of the chord. To be able to identify chords efficiently, you need to understand the building blocks of them and be able to arrange them so they make sense.

Let's look at this example below:

These three notes come together to make a chord. From bottom up, the notes are B♭, E, and C. Just by looking at all the intervals, you see B♭ up to E is an augmented fourth (A4), B♭ to C is a major second (M2) or major ninth (M9) depending on how you want to look at it and E to C is a minor sixth (m6).

Looking at B♭ as the root doesn't get you too far as you only have an augmented 4th and a major second which isn't a typically defined chord. However if you play with the order that you are looking at the notes, you'll see something very different. If we want to look at C as the root, then we have a major third (M3) from C to E and we have a minor seventh (m7) from C to B♭. Now if you look at typically built chords you see that we have everything we need to build a dominant 7th chord to get a C7 except the 5th which is omitted, but that is typical for the 5th.

This may not be a common voicing for a C7, but you should be able to recognize it. Switching the order of the notes will help a lot when you don't really see what is going on due to the voicing and after practicing, you'll be able to rearrange the notes in your head no problem.

Another thing that helps recognize chords is understanding the basic closed position chord shapes. Let's take a look at an example:

All three chords are a C major triad, but in diffenrt closed position voicings. The first is a root position where you have the root, third, and fifth of the chord in that order. The next is a first inversion closed position voicing where you have the third, fifth, and root of the chord in that order. The last is a second inversion closed position voicing where you have the fifth, root, and third in that order. If you spot one of these closed position triads, it's easy to identity the root and from there determining the chord will be much easier.