Major chords consist of three notes stacked upon one another and separated by an interval.
To form a major chord, begin with its root note and proceed by moving two piano keys (black and white) until reaching the third note, before jumping one more key until arriving at its fifth note – this spacing remains constant across every major chord.
Triads
Major triads consist of three notes stacked in thirds and are the most prevalent chord. Their sound is clear, resolved and bright; minor triads tend to sound less complete or resolved while diminished triads often have discordant qualities that remain unresolved.
All major triads are diatonic to their key signature, meaning that they can only be built using notes available within that key. By learning to recognize triads in their correct forms, you’ll be able to use them effectively across any key.
As with other chords, C maj 7 features some variations in its notes used – for instance, by replacing the third note with the sixth (CM7) note in its scale instead. You may also come across sus chords such as C sus 2 that use another tone as an alternate third, as well as add chords such as Cadd9 that simply arrange the same triad differently with added notes.
Major Triad
Major triads are an easy and joyful piano chord to form; composed of three notes stacked on top of each other and offering an upbeat sound, they’re used across most music genres.
Major triads can be easily formed in any scale by playing notes 1, 3, and 5 of that scale, regardless of which key you use it in. No matter what key you play it in, the quality of the interval between root and third (or fourth) remains constant and major chords will always sound gloriously beautiful!
Add spice and interest to your major triads by including additional tones from the scale you are playing them with. This will give the chord a unique sound while making it more exciting to listen to; additional tones may be indicated by adding numbers after their chord symbol; for instance Cmaj7 would show this.
Minor Triad
Minor triads consist of three notes stacked together, but unlike major chords their middle note has a flat instead of being sharpened. To create one start with your root (in C major this would be G). Place your thumb on this note, count four keys right including black keys until you find a perfect fifth; press your first finger onto D, E and G before pressing again on G for the remainder.
Create a major 7th chord by adding the seventh note from any related scale to a basic triad. This adds tension and can create more dramatic soundscapes. Play around with these shapes before and after other chords to find out what happens; you might be amazed at what new sounds emerge!
Major and Minor Scales
Major chords are usually the first chords most beginners learn when creating harmony, consisting of three notes – root, major third, and perfect fifth (1 – 3 – 5).
Based on its associated scale, major chords can take many forms and be written using different styles or names. Some can even be divided up into separate subcomponents.
Minor chords follow the same basic structure as major ones, yet employ a unique pattern of whole and half steps, giving rise to various differences in names, solfege syllables and scale degrees than their major counterparts.
Minor scales come in three main varieties – natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales. While the natural minor uses all white keys as its basis, harmonic and melodic minor have one sharp or flat note common to their relative major scale – this distinguishes them from other scales and serves as their key signature.