How to Identify Chords Written on Sheet Music

To identify chords from sheet music, first determine the inversion by examining the spacing between notes: root position chords have even spacing with the root at the bottom; first inversion chords have a larger space at the top with the root at the top; second inversion chords have a larger space at the bottom with the root in the middle. Then determine whether the chord is major or minor by listening to the sound (major sounds happy, minor sounds dark/sad) or by checking the interval distances (major triads have four half steps between root and third, minor triads have three half steps between root and third). For chords split between clefs, move notes up or down octaves to form a complete triad before identifying the root and quality.