G♯ minor chord on piano

The notes and their roles

G♯ minor contains G♯, B and D♯. 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.

Read this shape accurately

G-sharp minor uses B natural between G-sharp and D-sharp. B-sharp belongs to G-sharp major instead, so a natural-sign difference can change the quality just as a sharp can.

Change only the third

Hold G♯ and D♯ steady. Raise B by one semitone to B♯ 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 G♯4 · B4 · D♯5. Inversions put a different member in the bass while retaining G♯ as the root. The table gives pitch-class order; move the leading notes up an octave as needed to keep each example ascending.

A short listening check

Play G♯ minor together, then as separate notes. Name the minor third before looking at the display. Repeat in first inversion and check that B is the bass while G♯ 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.