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A minor chord on piano

Find the A minor notes, inspect their piano positions, and compare inversions with an audible reference.

Interactive piano keyboardSelected notes: A4 · C5 · E5. Gold marks the root when one is known.C4D4E4F4G4A4B4C5D5E5C♯4D♯4F♯4G♯4A♯4C♯5D♯5
Root noteSelected tone

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C Minor

C4 · E♭4 · G4

Notes and intervals

DegreeNotesSemitones
1A40
♭3C53
5E57

The notes and their roles

A minor contains A, C and E. From the root, the semitone offsets are 0, 3, 7. The degree formula 1, ♭3, 5 describes each member relative to the root, not its order in a particular voicing.

NoteRoleSemitones above root
ARoot0
CMinor third3
EPerfect fifth7

Read this shape accurately

A, C and E are all white keys. Starting on A makes C the minor third; the same C is the root of a different triad, C–E–G.

Change only the third

Hold A and E steady. Raise C by one semitone to C♯ and the quality changes to major. The root and perfect fifth do not change. This isolates the interval that distinguishes the two triads.

Choose a bass note

The root-position octave example is A4 · C5 · E5. Inversions put a different member in the bass while retaining A as the root. The table gives pitch-class order; move the leading notes up an octave as needed to keep each example ascending.

PositionNotes from the bassBass
Root positionA · C · EA
First inversionC · E · AC
Second inversionE · A · CE

A short listening check

Play A minor together, then as separate notes. Name the minor third before looking at the display. Repeat in first inversion and check that C is the bass while A remains the root.

  1. Choose the displayed root and quality in the chord explorer.
  2. Compare root position with one inversion at the same tempo.
  3. Save both examples in a named practice collection, or export a reference with note names.

Sources and methods