Major scales feature a unique pattern of half and whole steps repeated at every octave up, producing its signature sound while also determining which chords come into being from it.
C major for example does not contain any sharps or flats (Example 1), meaning all chords are major chords.
Major Triads
Major Chords will likely be your starting point when learning music. These chords form a central component in many songs and serve as one of the keystones to understanding it all. Their structure allows you to build all sorts of new chords from it easily.
Major Chords consist of three notes – a root, third and fifth. The root note serves as the lowest note; third notes provide middle tones; fifths serve as top tones. Intervals between these notes range from major third to minor third, giving the chord an extremely powerful sound and earning it its name.
Knowledge of chords is vitally important to building musical knowledge. They feature frequently in songs, and being able to play them quickly will prove indispensable. Plus, building them is easy enough that you can get started immediately!
As a beginner, you may not yet be ready for the complex math required in creating these types of chords. I recommend starting slow and focusing on sound of each chord before gradually building upon more complicated shapes.
As part of playing chords, it is also essential to consider the idea of keys. A key is an arrangement of notes that all belong together, helping you determine what chords to play. If you have a melody you want to sing along with, a suitable set of chords will complete its sound perfectly.
An excellent way to determine which chords should be used is by looking at the scale your key is based on. Take, for instance, C Major Scale; all chords associated with it contain all notes from this scale because these triad chords contain all notes found within it.
Minor Triads
Minor scale chords have the power to create powerful emotions when played at minor scale. This is due to their intimate sound created by smaller intervals between chords than major scales; therefore, modern artists often utilize this progression in songs that invoke feelings of sadness and longing, such as Dm (iv), Am (i) and E (v). This popular chord progression in pop, rock and hip-hop music also serves as an excellent way to create soulful and dramatic mood in their songs.
To construct minor triads, it is necessary to understand both the notes in your specific minor scale as well as how chords relate. Minor scales have three types of triads – augmented, perfect and diminished. Augmented triads add an additional major 7th, while perfect ones contain all seven notes from their minor scale – for instance in A minor, your augmented chord would be G major while your perfect one would be C major – both are effective choices when building minor triads.
Minor keys can be characterized by two main tones that help define their sound: the leading tone and tonic. The former is the seventh note in the scale while the latter serves as its first note – these notes being separated by half steps gives a minor key an emotional resonance that’s unique to itself.
The iv-i-V progression is an effective way of creating tension, and is widely utilized as a chord progression in minor keys. Unfortunately, its application poses one unique problem for composers: in minor keys the resolution from minor v chord to minor i chord may not produce as strong an impactful sound than its equivalent would when used with dominant V chord or major triad chords; therefore composers should be wary when writing in minor keys using this progression.
Major Sevenths
No matter your musical skill level or experience level, learning how chords are constructed from major scales is a valuable skill that provides insight into song structure as well as guidance for improvisation and composition.
Chords can be divided into categories according to the number of notes they contain or by inversion. For instance, a G major chord contains three notes – G, B and D – with G being the root and B being its lowest note; any three other notes can be arranged however you like while still leaving its root unchanged; thus making it possible to change an inverted version without altering its name; such as C D G or C G A.
An additional way of looking at chords is through their intervals, or distances between each note in its structure. Intervals typically follow patterns: for instance a whole step (2 frets) from the second note to its third one etc. Considering these intervals are consistent across major keys it’s easy to figure out the necessary notes of any particular chord with just knowing its key notes.
Once you understand interval patterns, you can use any major scale to generate any chord imaginable – even ones outside its key! Bob Dylan’s song, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”, starts off with a G chord before progressing through 1st, 4th and 5th chords from G major scale – producing its entire melody line and chord progression in just over one minute!
Are You Wondering Why Chords Don’t Include All Notes From the Major Scale? Well, chords do not contain all the notes of the Major Scale! Each time you go up a key, the Major Scale gains one sharp note (C Major has no sharps); going left adds flats (F Major has two flats). To compensate, use something called the circle of fifths to identify which chords exist in any given key.
Minor Sevenths
As its name implies, a minor scale chord has a softer sound than its major scale counterparts and produces tension within a song. It can also add sadness or drama in music composition. To build such chords on your fretboard, start from note one in your minor scale and lower or flatten it by one half step using flattening/lowering techniques – this type of chord is called minor seventh chord.
Minor scales offer three chord types to build upon: natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor. All three have the same pattern of intervals as major scales but vary in how seventh notes are played – also the key signature may differ for minor scales than for major ones.
The natural minor scale is the basic form of minor scale. The notes of the natural minor are identical to the C major scale; however, its sixth note has a lower pitch. This distinction between major and minor scales causes them to have different key signatures.
If you want to play a minor scale, it is crucial that you understand how the seventh note of that scale should be played. A minor seventh chord has an iconic sound often heard in tragic songs. To create one yourself, start from the tonic note of your minor scale and play a flatter version of that note from there.
Harmonic minor scales resemble natural minor scales in many ways, with one major distinction: the seventh note has been raised by one semitone compared to its natural minor equivalent, creating a more exotic sound and often heard in Eastern European folk music and classically-influenced rock and jazz music.
The melodic minor scale resembles its harmonic minor counterpart in many respects; however, its third note has been reduced by one semitone to create an exotic sound used extensively in Eastern European folk music and classically-influenced jazz music.