Better Guitarin’ – ep 3 – What do all these Roman numerals mean?

LukeSniper

For musicians in the know, describing a song as “I V vi IV in F” is WAY more helpful than saying “F C Dm Bb”. Often times, when my bassist and I start talking that way, our band mates just sit there looking confused, curious as to how what we said was sufficient enough for us to teach each other a song in just a few seconds.

If you’ve ever been in that situation, and want to be in the know, then this video is for you!

For quick reference, here are all the chords for major, natural minor (which are just the major chords shifted over), and the harmonic minor in both the traditional and “Berklee” way.

  • Major: I ii iii IV V vi vii° -or- I IIm IIIm IV V VIm VII°
  • Natural minor: i ii° III iv v VI VII -or- Im II° ♭III IVm V ♭VI ♭VII
  • Harmonic minor: i ii° III+ iv V VI vii° -or- Im II° ♭III+ IVm V ♭VI VII°