Printable worksheet
Chord Symbol Worksheet (Printable, with Answers)
Printable chord symbol worksheet: spell chords from symbols like Cmaj7 or F♯m7♭5, or write the symbol for a chord on the staff. Answers included.
Chord Symbol Worksheet (Printable, with Answers)
Sheet #
Name Date Score /
Answer key
Chord Symbol Worksheet (Printable, with Answers) · Sheet #
About the Chord Symbol Worksheet
The Chord Symbol Worksheet is a printable practice sheet where you spell chords from symbols like Cmaj7 or F♯m7♭5, or write the symbol for a chord shown on the staff. It runs in your web browser, is free, and needs no sign-up. Nothing you enter is uploaded, and answers are included.
The worksheet suits anyone learning music chord symbols, from pop chord symbols in a lead sheet to jazz chord notation in a fake book. It also helps with chord symbols piano players read, because each question trains you to go in both directions: from symbol to notes, and from notes back to symbol.
How to use the Chord Symbol Worksheet
- Choose a Difficulty: easy, medium or hard.
- Open the Direction menu and choose Mixed, Symbol to notes, or Notes to symbol. Mixed is the default.
- Open the Questions menu and choose 10 or 20.
- Click New worksheet to generate a sheet with its own Sheet # number.
- Use the spelling method explained below and write your answers on the sheet.
- Click Show answers to check your work, or print the answers on their own page.
Every sheet has a Sheet # number, and the page address keeps your settings and that number (the part after ?seed=). Open or share that address to get the same sheet again.
To print, click Print. Page 1 holds the questions and page 2 holds the answer key. A4 and US Letter both work. The sheet has Name, Date and Score lines at the top.
Start on Easy with Direction set to Mixed so you practise reading symbols and writing them from notes. Move to Medium or Hard once the basic chords feel automatic. The Questions menu can stay at 10 until you are comfortable, then switch to 20.
When you spell a chord from its symbol, write the letters first. Use every other letter for thirds, then add the flats or sharps the suffix requires. For example, Cm7♭5 gives C, E♭, G♭, B♭.
When you write a symbol from notes on the staff, find the lowest note first. It is the root, and the chord is in root position.
What does a chord symbol mean?#
A chord symbol is a short label that tells you which notes make up a chord. It starts with the root, the note the chord is built on, and adds a suffix that sets the chord quality and any extra notes.
To spell a chord, write the letters first. For thirds, take every other letter: C, E, G, B. For 2nds, 4ths and 6ths, use the letter the symbol names: Csus2 gives C, D, G. Then apply the accidentals the suffix demands. Cm lowers the third to E♭, so it is C, E♭, G. Cmaj7 keeps the major seventh, B, while C7 uses B♭.
Some suffixes change more than one note. In m7♭5 the flat lowers the fifth, so C-E♭-G♭-B♭ is the result. In sus2 and sus4 the third is replaced, not added to. Add9 adds the ninth to a major triad without a seventh, giving C-E-G-D.
When you read chords on the staff, the root is the lowest note and the chord is in root position. That is why the notes-to-symbol questions always put the root at the bottom.
The difficulty levels build on each other. Easy sheets use major, minor, dominant 7th, major 7th and minor 7th chords. Medium adds diminished, augmented, m7♭5, dim7, sus2, sus4, 6 and m6 chords, which appear in symbol-to-notes questions only. Hard adds 7sus4, add9, 9, m9 and maj9 chords, every root from C♭ to B♯, and double accidentals where needed.
What are the other ways to write chord symbols?#
A chord can have more than one symbol. Cmaj7 is also written CM7 or CΔ7, and a minor seventh chord with a lowered fifth, C-E♭-G♭-B♭, is also written Cø7. Each pair names the same notes, so either form is correct.
Other symbols change one note of a basic triad instead of using a different name. Csus2 replaces the third with the second (C-D-G), and Csus4 replaces it with the fourth (C-F-G). Cadd9 adds the ninth to a major triad without the seventh (C-E-G-D).
When you read a symbol, look at the root letter first, then the suffix. Lead sheets and fake books use this shorthand, so knowing the variants helps when a chord is written in a different style.