Music Scale

[sprinks41]

i know it kinda sounds like a dumb question but i've always wanted to know this lol. some chords have names like F#, Dm, C7, etc. and its because they fall under the pitch area according to the letter on the music scale (i guess that's how you would put it lol). my question is, is there a reason the music scale was given these letters as the names, or were they just chosen in general? again i know it sounds like a weird question lol so i apologize for not being able to word it better.

[GonoszMano]

First: a D chord is called D, becouse of it's root note. It's made of 3 notes: D (root), F# (major third) and A (fifth). (The third and fifth means, that they are the third and fifth notes after the root in the major scale.) That's the reason.
At the C7 chord you have the root (C), the third (E), the fifth (G), and the minor seventh (A#).

The chord names are based on the notes in the chord and their place in a scale.

[Dylan]

i think your asking why they named the notes A-G as opposed to have every different not a different letter. i don't actually know, it's something i've wondered myself...

[sprinks41]

i think your asking why they named the notes A-G as opposed to have every different not a different letter. i don't actually know, it's something i've wondered myself...

yes exactly! like i understand the music scale had to have names for the notes and stuff. but why A-G? there may not even be a reason, it may be "just because" lol. i've just always wondered tho

[GonoszMano]

I think it's because the ABC. The Western diatonic scale has 7 whole notes, they are named after the first 7 letters of the ABC. Becouse it's simple, and (almost) everyone knows the ABC.