English name for 3-tone chords that have the bass tone different from the root
I've been studying Croatian music theory with durs and mols and H-s and not English so I don't know English names.
I'm encountering one problem while writing the 63 chord in jazz harmony for to play on the guitar. There's a chord in the song When a Man Loves a Woman that soungs like "G# dur", but has C/H# as the bass. Before studying Croatian harmony, I didn't know how that chord was called until I saw a 63-chord called "sextachord". How is that chord called and written in English? How is it written in jazz harmony? In jazz harmony, the base tone and the bass tone is always the same so how do I make the exception while writing chords into lyrics for someone? Should it be H#6/3 or G#6/3 or what?
1 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
If I'm understanding the terms you are using correctly, I think the notation you are looking for is "G#/H#" in Croatian, or "G#/B#" in English.
In classical chord symbols, inversions are indicated with the actual intervals present (that are not 3rds) after the chord name. So a G# major chord with B# on the bottom would be called a G#6 chord (Not to be confused with a G#6 chord G#B#D#E#). This is also called "first inversion". A G# major chord with the D# as the lowest sounding note would be called G#64 (the 4 should actually be directly under the 6, but I haven't figured out how to do that) and is called "second inversion".
In jazz and pop music chord symbols, it's very rare to use the classical style. Instead, the lowest sounding note of the chord is indicated after a slash. So the first inversion of a G# major chord would be written "G#/H#" in Croatian and "G#/B#" in English. And second inversion of a G# major chord would be written "G#/D#" in both languages.
Here's the English Wikipedia page on inversions, jumping to the section on notation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(music)#Notating_root_position_and_inversions
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2026 All Rights reserved.