Roman numeral analysis
A system of naming chords by the scale degree they are built on, using capital letters for major chords and small letters for minor.
Writing a progression as roman numerals shows its function rather than its literal chords, so the same analysis describes the same progression in every key. Convention uses an upper-case number for a major triad, a lower-case number for a minor one, a small circle for a diminished chord and superscripts for the inversions and extensions. It is the notation used in theory teaching and in most jazz analysis, and it is the basis of the Nashville system in simplified form.
Example: A progression written as one, five, six minor, four describes the same chord movement whatever key it is played in.
See also
Related
- PageScale degree
- PageDiatonic
- PageNashville Number System
- PageAugmented chord
- PageBlue note
- PageBlues scale
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley