In music, what does the "root" mean?

Question

What use is it?

I am learning the gutiar and wondering what use is it. For example, my book has an "E" major scale. What are the roots and how can this be used? Could roots be used to move it to another key? How? Same thing for chords. I'm not very well versed in musical jargon, so please keep it simple.

Answer 1

The "root" is used in harmony to describe the base of a chord. For example, a C major chord is made up of three notes:

C - the "root"
E - the third
G - the fifth

In tertian harmony (chords stacked in thirds), a chord will have a root and up to 6 notes (up to a thirteenth) stacked on top of it.

I hope this helps to explain things for you.

Answer 2

the root is the tonic note. If you have a c magor triad, the root is c. If you have an E major triad, the root is E, etc.
The root is not the same thing as the bass. The bass is the note in the chord that is on the bottom.
For example, if you have a Cmajor triad(chord) in 1st inversion(C6 in guitar music) that means that it is a c major chord, but E is in the bass. instead of playing C E G, you have E G C .

Answer 3

When a chord is in root position, it means that the 3 notes (if this is a triad) are stacked on the staff so that they sit on 3 consecutive spaces or 3 consecutive lines. With that being said, the root is basically the note that the chord is named. For example, in an F chord (F-A-C), the root is F.

Answer 4

Technically there are lots of technical definitions freely available from the web:

13.in Music. a. the fundamental tone of a compound tone or of a series of harmonies.
b. the lowest tone of a chord when arranged as a series of thirds; the fundamental.

also see Wikipedia
In music the root (basse fondamentale) of a chord is the note or pitch upon which that chord is perceived or labelled as being built or hierarchically centered upon. This feeling of centeredness is aurally perceivable for those who grew up with European music, and its verbal labelling is a basic skill for the musically trained.
When the root is the bass note, or lowest note, of the expressed chord the chord is said to be in root position. This may also be described as uninverted or in normal form. Often the root is not the lowest pitch played in a chord, in which case the chord is inverted. Conventionally, the name of the note which is the root is used to denote the chord, thus a major chord built on C is a C Major chord. Starting with Rameau, the analysis and theory of tonal music usually treats the roots as the defining feature of chords and much information can be gained from a progression of roots even if chord inversions are unknown. Also, if the key is known then the chord qualities are known for each root in simple music.In a root progression, the most familiar form of labelling chord progressions, chords are labelled by their root, rather than bass if different, as above. This is in contrast to an older pre-tonal conception of chords as sonorities wherein root position or first inversion triads are simply considered alternative and fairly equivalent ways of "filling in" the consonance between octaves, C (E G) C or C (F A) C.

My personal rather untrained understanding (however i can play a little and my partner is a musician and a sound engineer) is this:
Its a rather abstract concept but from a non musician like myself its kind of like if you compare vivaldis four seasons to freeform (not structured) jazz ie in freeform jazz the notes can go off on a tangent and may never actually come back to the root note/etc hence that kind of loose, non predictable incompletenes or free form kind of sound, however listen to vivaldi, the rises and the falls, the somewhat completeness and balance of the progression, you know where its going , you expect it to come back to that root structure its based on that source chord /that note that sets the tone-. its really clear in 'summer' and 'winter', and vivaldi kind of builds and builds on it so when he comes back to the root its very satisfying, and quite obvious. Regardless of whether you like classical or not, and even if you dont know what g minor sounds like, you can pick it when its played,

Jazz can be structured to conform to the root, or not, and can sometimes allude to the root as though its going to get there but doesnt, eg some commercial jazz conforms, and jazz has structure but listen to miles davis and you should instintively hear that hes less concerned with following /returning to the root note

download

Vivaldi
summer op8 no 2 G minor allegro non molto
summer op8 no 2 G minor presto
winter op8 no 4 eg Fminor allegro non molto
winter op8 no 4 eg F minor allegro

vs

miles davis, any freeform jazz musician, early jazz, not theatrical jazz

Answer 5

the root is the 'key' note. The root in C major is C.

It is the primary note in the chord. It establishes the main tone and therefore governs how the chord must move.

Answer 6

my sister and i have been involved with music for a number of years and the thing that bugs me the most is when she makes music more difficult then what it really is; she is a music major. to make it short it is the base note of a key signature. you dont need to know all that theory unless you are very serious about music but however it does make you a better musician and besides a little knowledge hurts no body.