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It is very important to be able to recognize a chord in any position. If we can only recognize a chord in the root close position than our ability to understand what is going on in the music is very limited. The procedure that can be used to recognize a chord in any position is:
We must find all the note names used in the chord.
We must find the notes having the same note names as those used in the chord but they must be chosen such that they are arranged in the form of a stack of thirds.
These notes form the root close position of the chord.
From the root close position of the chord, we can easily recognize the chord name. Remember, the chord root can be determined as the bass tone (the note name of the lowest note) of the root close position.
The chord inversion can be easily determined by examining the bass tone of the original chord.
This procedure will be illustrated with lot of examples in chapter Chord analysis. One such example is explained here in detail. The next figure shows a chord.
Figure: A chord
The distinct note names used in this chord are: Bb, D and G. The next figure shows them arranged as a stack of thirds. We can use any convenient octave. The only important thing is that we succeeded in arranging the note names as a stack of thirds.
Figure: The note names arranged as a stack of thirds
From this figure, we can see the root close position of the chord and easily conclude that this is the G minor triad chord. Also, we can see that the bass tone (the note name of the lowest note) of the original chord is Bb and we conclude that the original chord is in the first inversion. Thus, the symbol is Gm/Bb.
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