Learning major chords on keyboard can expand your musical vocabulary. Starting with C major is simple enough – three note chords measure out in half steps between them determine which kind of chord they form.
Your chord will always consist of three elements – the root, major third and perfect fifth. The root note will always be one white note down from where a scale begins.
Root note
The root note is the starting point for any chord. It sets its overall tonal center and determines its name and character; chords may have one root note or multiple – the latter depends on whether its major, minor, diminished, or augmented chord.
A chord typically contains three notes; typically a third and fifth above its root note – providing fullness. Next comes sixth note which may either be flattened fifth or diminished fifth; finally there is eighth which adds tension to any given chord.
Diminished seventh chords are an iconic element of jazz music, often having an emotive or dramatic quality to your songs. Simple to learn and add into any chord progression – just use a minor triad with an additional minor seventh interval and add that into a diminished seventh.
Major third
The major third is an interval between the first and third notes in a scale and forms the foundation for most chords, such as C major’s chord consisting of C (the root), E (major third) and G (perfect fifth). Major chords tend to evoke positive emotions while minor ones can often create more downbeat ones; their associations have likely formed over time, hence why major ones are seen as happy while minor ones may cause sadness.
The key of music can be divided into 12 major and minor keys that share some chords among them, yet each key features its own primary chord sequence that sets it apart from others. Thus, understanding intervals is critical to learning piano; intervals also help speed up reading music faster while providing you with an orientation map for moving around keyboard keys seamlessly and effortlessly; with practice comes improvement!
Major triad
The major triad is one of the key chords to learn for beginners. These three notes produce a cheerful sound and can be found in many popular songs; additionally they create an ideal foundation for melodies and bass lines. Mozart famously used this chord in his Piano Sonata No 16 in C Major K 545 by creating what’s known as an Alberti bass accompaniment with alternating triads from different fingers in his left hand – known as Alberti bass accompaniment.
Major triads consist of the root note, its major third above it and an interval called half-steps between these notes. On music sheets they are commonly written as C, E and G triads.
These intervals are standard across any major scale, making triad building simple. Any note will work to create a major triad – but keep in mind that its quality depends on its scale degree – for instance a major triad built on scale degree one will feature a minor third interval.
Minor triad
To create a minor chord, use the same technique as for major ones – just shift down one half step when moving the middle note – e.g. if you want to turn C major into minor just change its middle note from E to Eb and play as above.
There are four qualities of triad: major, minor, diminished and augmented – each determined by the intervals between root and third and fifth notes and root and fifth note respectively.
To establish chord quality, we can refer to a complete note interval table and locate the distance between third and fifth notes – this represents three half-tones or major (M3) interval. This same method works for other chord types as well. You could try doubling or spacing notes to see how that affects identification of their quality.