Universal key fractions (e.g. an A natural in the scale above becomes ) or, more commonly in written text, by inserting an accidental before the number (e.g. the same note becomes 5 or 4). In music theory aimed towards jazz and popular music, all triads are represented by upper case numerals, followed by a symbol to indicate if it is not a major chord (e.g. "m" for minor or "ø" for half-diminished): When representing the triads rooted in a minor key, accidentals are used to indicate the chromatic alteration from the assumed major key roots indicated by numerals that don't have accidentals:
Shape note followed (ascending) by Sol, La, etc. The first note of a minor key is always La, followed by Mi, Fa, etc. The first three notes of any major scale – fa, sol, la – are each a tone apart. The fourth to sixth notes are also a tone apart and are also fa, sol, la. The seventh and eighth notes, being separated by a semitone, are indicated mi-fa. This means that just four shapenotes can adequately reflect the "feeling" of the whole scale. The system illustrated above is a "four-shape" system; six of the notes of the scale are grouped