CHORD REFERENCE

G6

G – B – D – E1 3 5 6

The G Major 6th chord and everything around it — the notes and how they are built, the shape on piano and guitar, the sound, and the keys it belongs to.

Notes
G1B3D5E6

G6 is G, B, D, E — the 1, 3, 5 and 6 above the root G.

Piano
GBDE
Guitar

Ways to play it

E-shape barre — 3rd fret
3fr

Guitar — every position (frets 0–12)

357912eEGBDEBBDEGBGGBDEGDDEGBDABDEGEEGBDE

Root notes are red. The shapes above are movable — an E-shape has its root on the low E string, an A-shape on the A string. any group of these notes on the neck sounds the chord.

Ukulele (standard G–C–E–A)

Movable shape
GCEA7fr
357912ABDEGEEGBDECDEGBGGBDEG

The shape above is movable up the neck. Every position of the chord tones on the ukulele neck — any group that sounds only G, B, D, E plays the chord.

In which keys

G6 is a colour chord — it is not diatonic to a plain major or minor key, which is what gives it its character. It shows up as a borrowed chord, an altered dominant, or a passing sound.

Other G chords

Triads

GMajorGmMinorG5Power Chord (5)GdimDiminishedGaugAugmentedGsus2Suspended 2ndGsus4Suspended 4th

Sixths & sevenths

Gm6Minor 6thG7Dominant 7thGmaj7Major 7thGm7Minor 7thGm(maj7)Minor–Major 7thGdim7Diminished 7thGm7♭5Half-Diminished (m7♭5)G7sus47sus4

Altered dominants

G7♭57♭5G7♯57♯5 (Augmented 7th)G7♭97♭9G7♯97♯9 (Hendrix Chord)

Extended & added

Gadd9Added 9thG6/96/9G9Dominant 9thGmaj9Major 9thGm9Minor 9thG11Dominant 11thG13Dominant 13th
Major 6th on another root
CC♯D♭DE♭EFF♯G♭GA♭G♯AB♭B
Keep exploring

Work out the chords of a whole key with the Scale & Chord Finder, name a chord from its notes with the Chord Identifier, or browse every chord tool. The theory behind how chords are built is in the free Cloud Atelier music guides.