First Lesson -- First Groove chord question

[Jacob S]

I have a quick question.  I learned how to play piano as a kid by site reading.  I've played 10+ years.  But, never really learned that much about chords.  On the First Groove exercise, there's the the d,f, c chord that is referred to as a G.  However, no G appears in the chord, not even a G-minor or G-flat.   Why is this chord referred to as G?  Thanks.  

[Richard H]

Not sure what the "first groove exercise" is or I would take a look.

I'll take a stab at it:

If there is no G in the chord, it could be a rootless voicing (which assumes the bass player in the band is playing the root). 

But also D F C would not be G major since that has an F# -- or maybe the key signature is key of G and so F is assumed to be sharp?   

So anyways D F C is the 5 7 and 4 of G minor (unless the F is actually F# then its major).  So if it is a rootless voicing then it's really G D F C so 1 5 7 4.  But since 4 is on top it's an 11 so 1 5 7 11 which is either G major 11 or G minor 11, it's just missing the 3.  The fact it is missing the 3 means it could major or minor, depending on whether the 7 (F) is sharp or not.

Bottom line: either a typo or a rootless voicing.