Chord symbols: inversions and reading chords

In the lesson on chords you built chords as towers with the root at the bottom. Real players often shuffle the same notes into a different order, and song sheets use short symbols like C/E or Csus4 to say exactly what to play. Here is how to turn a chord around, and how to read the little letters above the words of a song.

Reviewed 7 October 2026

In this lesson

Same notes, different bottom

A C major chord is always C, E and G. But you can stack them in different orders. When the root C is the lowest note, the chord is in root position. Move the C up to the top, and E is now the lowest note: that is the first inversion. Move E to the top as well, and G is now at the bottom: that is the second inversion.

The name of the chord does not change. It is still C major, with the same three notes. What changes is the lowest note, and your ears notice it most. Root position sounds solid and settled. The first inversion sounds lighter, and the second inversion can sound as if it is leaning, waiting for something.

C at the bottom: C E G. Solid and settled.
E at the bottom: E G C. Same chord, lighter.
G at the bottom: G C E. Same chord, leaning.

Try it: on a piano, play C E G, then lift the C and put it on top. Do it once more. You have just played all three positions.

Why players turn chords around

Play C, F, G and C, each one in root position, and your hand has to jump up and down the keyboard. It is hard work, and the chords sound a little choppy.

Now pick, for each chord, the inversion whose notes are closest to the chord before. Notes that two chords share can simply stay where they are, and the other notes move only a step or two. Your hand hardly travels, and the chords flow into each other. This is why pianists and guitarists use inversions all the time when they accompany a song.

C, F, G, C, all in root position: the right hand jumps.
The same four chords, using inversions: the right hand barely moves.

The slash: which note goes at the bottom

Song sheets can show the lowest note with a slash. C/E means: play a C chord, with E as the lowest note. You read it as "C over E". So C/E is the first inversion of C, and C/G is the second inversion.

The note after the slash does not even have to belong to the chord. C/B means a C chord over a B in the bass. Slash chords like this are often used to make the bass walk smoothly down or up, step by step, while the hand above stays almost still.

The hand plays the same C chord; only the bass note changes.
C, C/B, Am, Am/G, F: the bass steps down one note at a time.

Reading chord symbols

A chord symbol starts with a capital letter: the root. A letter on its own means a major chord, so C is C major. Small letters and numbers after it tell you the colour. You have met these in the lesson on chords: m means minor, dim means diminished, aug means augmented, 7 adds a seventh, maj7 adds a major seventh, and m7 is a minor chord with a seventh.

Different books write the same chord in different ways. You may see a minus sign for minor (C−), a small circle for diminished (C°), a plus for augmented (C+) and a triangle for major seventh (CΔ7). They mean the same chords. Press the buttons to hear each one built on C.

C E G: major, bright.
C E♭ G: minor, softer.
C E G B♭: restless, wants to move on.
C E G B: smooth and dreamy.
C E♭ G B♭: mellow and cool.
C E♭ G♭: tense.
C E G♯: floating and unsettled.

Sus, add and 6: a few more colours

In a sus chord (short for suspended), the middle note is swapped. Csus2 uses D instead of E (C D G), and Csus4 uses F instead of E (C F G). Without its third, the chord is neither major nor minor, so it sounds open and a little unfinished. In older music the F of Csus4 would usually step down to E. In many pop songs the sus chord is simply left as it is.

Add means a note is added to a normal chord. Cadd9 is a C chord with an extra D on top (C E G D), but no seventh. C6 is a C chord with an A added (C E G A), a warm, gentle sound. Compare Csus4 and C, then listen to Cadd9 and C6.

C D G: open, neither major nor minor.
C F G: open, as if holding its breath.
F steps down to E, and the chord breathes out.
C E G + D: a C chord with sparkle.
C E G + A: warm and gentle.

Reading a song sheet

Many song books and websites print only the words and the melody, with chord symbols written above. Each symbol sits where that chord starts, and you keep playing it until the next symbol appears.

Here is a little tune of our own with the chords C | Am | F G7 | C, one chord to a bar except the third bar, which has two. Listen to the bass and the chords change underneath the melody.

A short tune with the chords changing where the symbols say.

Try it: take any song sheet with chord symbols and read the chords out loud in time, saying each name as it arrives.

Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0).