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Does anyone know of a good online reference for chord notation symbols. One of my kids, in an improv. lesson, was given a fake chart of Glen Miller's "In The Mood" to work on, and the chart features a chord marked "G#°", and I believe the small o means diminished, which I think means to flatten the perfect fifth of the triad by a semitone, but not sure, any takers?

I've been to the pianoworld chord chart, but it doesn't feature this symbol, and doesn't have diminished chords in it's chord references.

Jamie

RIcciAdams Chord Calculator page

Ricci Adams has been mentioned before and is a pretty good site. He uses the diminished symbol you mentioned.


a previous discussion in PianoWorld Archieves with MusicTheoryLinks

You posted in the thread above, Samejame, but here it is again anyway.

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: RKVS1 ]
Dr Blood's chord explaination page

This site was one of those mentioned in the thread above. The link in that thread, however, deadended, while this one works.

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: RKVS1 ]

The "o" symbol does mean "diminished", but the 3rd AND 5th get flatted by a half-tone each. The symbols regularly used are fairly simple, it's just a matter of learning them. Any quick reference is all you'll need to pick them up in short order.

The only other symbols used that may cause confusion are "-" for "minor" (flatting the 3rd) and "+" for sharping the 5th.

You may also see "T" denoting a "triad", because in jazz, it is usually assumed that all chords are played with the 7th by default.