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ROOT NOTE AND TONIC IN MUSIC: DON'T CONFUSE THESE TWO TERMS
Chords have roots, whereas scales and keys are centred on tonic notes. Do not refer to the first note of a scale as a “scale root”—there’s no such thing. Scales do not have roots. Chords have roots.
As you’ll see shortly, a chord is named for its root note. When the root note of a chord happens to be the same note as the tonic note of a scale, that chord is called the tonic chord.