Chords form the core of many songs, so understanding their construction will enhance both your intuition and playing abilities.
Chords are composed of notes arranged according to their relationship to scales, making learning and memorizing them significantly simpler. One essential concept in learning chords is intervals.
Triads
Triad chords are one of the simplest types of chords and consist solely of three notes, serving as the building block for almost all guitar chords.
Each triad is composed of the first, third and fifth scale degrees in any major scale. If a do is employed for construction of the triad, its intervals between first and second will differ and third and fourth will also differ to give each chord different qualities and qualities to its sound.
Major and minor triads produce upbeat and cheerful sounds while their respective minor counterparts have melancholic overtones. It is important to recognize these variations since they will affect how triads sound when played in any key.
Triads can be arranged in various ways on the fretboard. One effective way of learning them is using the CAGED system; this enables you to isolate triad shapes on the neck and use them as visual anchor points, enabling quicker playing of arpeggios and melodies.
Intervals
Intervals refer to the distance between two notes or points on the fretboard and can either be melodic or harmonic in nature; during melodies, individual notes may be played one after another in succession while chords require all notes being played simultaneously.
Intervals can be measured in semitones or whole steps; their quality can be distinguished between major or minor. A perfect third consists of four half tones while a minor sixth contains six, with the former more common in rock music while its latter counterpart tends to be preferred by jazz musicians.
To turn a simple interval into a compound interval, all you have to do is add seven. In this manner, unisons become octaves; seconds become ninths; and thirds become fifths – though these fifths may also be altered further depending on individual needs.
Scales
Scales are sequences of notes grouped together for musical purposes and composed by intervals, which is the difference between two notes, either tonally or semitonally. Understanding this concept will enable you to use scales effectively.
Root notes of scales provide the basis of any pattern and help orient players during songs or solo performances. Sometimes there may be several root notes per scale shape if it spans multiple strings.
A scale diagram will be drawn vertically or horizontally and each line represents one fret on the guitar. Red numbers correspond with chord tones from that scale – these chord tones help connect your riffs and licks with chords you are playing over, which in turn distinguish great improvisers from good ones. Each scale will contain additional tones that sound similar.
Forms
Chords form the harmonic basis for songs and can be utilized in an infinite number of ways – for instance, two identical chord progressions could be employed in two different songs to produce completely dissimilar music.
Grouping chords based on their function is known as ‘chord families’. Acquiring knowledge about how each chord operates within its key is vitally important and should be the cornerstone of your approach to guitar music theory.
These chords contain additional notes, like the C6 (composed of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from the C Major scale) or E7#9 (containing 1st, flat 7th and sharp 9th notes from E Major). Such altered chords should be learned alongside their regular counterparts.