Learning all 12 keys of major chords will allow you to recreate the iconic chord progression used for “Let It Be” by The Beatles and many other popular songs. Furthermore, this progression can also be applied with minor chords by pushing down their third.
Major Triads
Major triads consist of the root, third and fifth scale degrees in any major key. They serve as the building blocks for all other major and minor chords.
To create a minor triad, lower the third scale degree down an octave so as to obtain G, C and E – often known as diminished chord. This concept of chord theory is very important.
Major Sevenths
Major seventh chords are an effective way of injecting tension into music, and can be found both in contemporary pieces like those by modern composers like James Tenney and Romantic-era piano pieces like those by Claude Debussy like Claire de Lune.
They are built around a major triad, but feature an additional minor seventh note above the root note. Experiment with different voicings of these scales across your neck in order to explore their distinct sound qualities.
Major Fifths
Perfect fifths sound incredibly harmonious and can help smooth over any dissonant intervals present in other chords such as major sevenths. Furthermore, they can be present within a triad to form 9th or 11th chords.
Chords for any particular key are composed of chords built from scale notes that form its key center; this process is known as diatonic scale and can be seen in action in the table below.
Major Sixths
A major sixth is an interval consisting of nine semitones; it marks the transition between C and A.
Like thirds, sixths can be either major or minor and either augmented or diminished – although these latter two intervals typically span different numbers of semitones and thus won’t be covered here.
Major Tenths
There are seven diatonic chords in each major key (if we ignore sharps and flats). These can be combined into triads by grouping three notes with an interval of a third apart between them.
A major seventh can be created by shifting a perfect fifth (such as F-C) one half step lower to C. This also converts an otherwise minor seventh into a major seventh by lowering its top note two octaves.
Minor Triads
Practice these triads until they become familiar to both their shape and sound, as well as linking them with songs or melodies you know well – this will help your memory of how they sound in musical context.
For beginners to play minor triads easily, simply pick any root note, count three half steps towards the third note, and two toward the fifth – this makes learning them simple!
Minor Sevenths
The minor seventh chord consists of the root, third, and fifth notes from a major scale; it is sometimes known as a minor ninth chord, often abbreviated Cm9.
Like its major cousin, minor seventh chords may feel dissonant or unstable. Commonly used to return back to tonic chords (I), their pattern is easy and fast to memorize.
Minor Fifths
Every major key has its own relative minor key. To find this relationship, travel around the circle of fifths until you arrive at one with new sharps or flats.
A ninth chord consists of the root, third, fifth and seventh notes from any major scale and is most often written as C9. Cadd6 refers to seventh chords with an extra sixth note added on.
Minor Sixths
Minor sixth chords are less prevalent but have a darker sound, typically consisting of a major triad plus a minor 6th.
Minor sixth interval is one semitone narrower than the major sixth and is equivalent to an augmented fifth in terms of its harmonic properties. You can find it in diminished triads as well as second and third inversions of dominant seventh chords.
Minor Tenths
Chords may be modified with additional notes such as sixths, sevenths and ninths to create more complex chords that incorporate them. These modified chords usually use an add symbol that indicates their number; for instance Csus2 or Cadd6 would indicate which add symbol applies when abbreviated.
Interval numbers are determined based on inclusive counts of staff positions that span an interval, rather than simply by subtracting one from another endpoint. Thus, C-D represents one full second and C-E represents a diminished third.