Reading chord names — the types

A basic chord consists of three notes. Everything a songbook adds beyond that — the 7, the sus, the add9 — is a fourth note that either joins the three or replaces one of them. Nothing else happens, and you can hear immediately which case it is.

Chord names aren't vocabulary, then, but build instructions: they tell you what sits on top of the triad.

Seventh chord (7) — a fourth note added on top. The chord sounds unfinished and pulls onward, which is why it usually appears just before its target chord. G7 before C is the most common instance in pop music.

Maj7 — the same position, filled a half step higher. Instead of pull it creates rest, soft and slightly floating. The standard sound in soul and bossa nova.

m7 — a minor triad plus the same seventh as the seventh chord. The name reads block by block: minor underneath, 7 on top. Softer than plain minor, and the default in funk and soul.

Sus2 / sus4 — here nothing is added; the third is replaced. That note is what decides between major and minor, so with it gone the chord is neither. It sounds open and wants to return to the normal shape, which is why sus usually appears in passing rather than as a destination.

Add9 — an extra note with nothing replaced. The chord stays major but gains brightness. On guitar it's often discovered by accident: Cadd9 comes from one additional finger on the C shape and sits more comfortably than plain C.

Power chord (5) — the opposite case. Here the third is removed with no replacement, leaving root and fifth. Without a third there's no major or minor statement, and that's exactly why this chord holds up under heavy distortion instead of turning to mud.

6, dim, and aug follow the same logic — basic frame plus a named ingredient.

No extended chord is more advanced than a basic one; several are actually easier to fret on guitar. They solve different problems: create pull, create rest, leave tension unresolved. Once the principle is clear you read chord names instead of learning them — and the chord database becomes legible. When it lists Fmaj7 instead of a simplified F, that isn't pedantry, it's the truth about the sound.