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The Common ToneWhere the Sacred and the Profane Share the Same Cup
The Common Tone · Visual Language of Music
C7(♭9)/E

How Chord Symbols Are Built

The grammar that builds every chord symbol from stackable parts: root, quality, extension, alterations, and an optional bass note.

How to read it

Read left to right: name the root, apply the quality, stack up to the extension, adjust anything in parentheses, and if there's a slash, put that note in the bass.

In context

How Chord Symbols Are Built — example The chord symbol C7 flat-nine over E, drawn large, with each part bracketed and labeled below. C 7 (♭9) /E 1 2 3 4 1 root: C 2 quality + extension read together: dominant seventh 3 alteration: flat ninth 4 bass: play E under the chord
One symbol, four decisions, read left to right.

See also

slash-chord · half-diminished-symbol · extension-symbols · alteration-symbols

For specialists

Record status: draft — verification pending (bookshelf locators + chord-symbol authority; OQ-1 blocks the slice gate)