I was thinking about mentioning Nashville notation but that wasn't the question.

Joda wasn't asking about chords in a song he's asking about the chords themselves not in the context of the key sig. Joda, what I'm talking about is the relationship of the chords to the key sig of the song. When someone says "chord tones" or "scale tones" what they're usually referring to is the numbered position of the chord as part of the scale of the song based on the key sig. Example, key of C and a basic 3 chord song. The 3 chords usually are C7, F7 and G7 or commonly known as a 1-4-5 progression. In Ab it's Ab7, Db7 and Eb7. Counting the notes in the C major scale yields 1=C, 4=F and 5=G. Those are not notes in a chord, they're chords in a song and that's what Nashville notation is all about. A 1-4-5 is written in Nashville notation as I-IV-V. As long as you know the key sig and your basic major scales then you can play that progression in any key no need for the chord itself to be written, I-IV-5 is all you need. There's only 12 scales and beginner or not I will say you must learn those. No arguments, just do it. But Nashville notation has nothing to do with you figuring out what the notes are in any particular chord. The notes in any chord also comes from knowing the scales because the numbers are the same. Scale tones equals the note numbers. Notes in any chord also equals the note numbers in the scale of the chord based on the key sig.

Hope this makes sense.

Bob

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