Learning minor chords on piano can add a more profound and solemn tone to your music. Just like major chords, these are made from triads using the same formula.
Minor chords consist of three notes – a root note, minor third and perfect fifth – with only a slight difference being that you lower the middle note by one half step.
How to Build a Minor Chord
Minor chords can create an emotive sound when learning piano, but beginner students often misunderstand how to construct one and can find it challenging to play them correctly.
A minor chord can be formed by starting from its root note and adding third, fifth and diminished thirds from a major chord, with its root notes remaining the same for all types. You can practice creating minor chords in various positions and inversions in order to help memorize them more easily.
An effective way of recalling the root, minor third, and perfect fifth notes of a minor chord is to count up 7 half-steps from where you start counting up from. A half-step is the smallest interval between two notes; typically from one white key to its lowest black key or vice versa.
Major Triads
When beginning to learn chords, it is recommended that one develop both major and minor progressions as these will prove invaluable for various musical genres.
Minor triads utilize the same intervals as major triads but substitute the lower third with an equal-tempered minor seventh (m7) for an altered sound and to differentiate themselves. This gives minor chords their distinct sound.
Once you understand how to construct 3-note minor triads, the same concept can be used to build other minor piano chords. For instance, to play an F minor chord you could simply move your left-hand fingers one key over and create an F minor triad with an additional 7th note – commonly referred to as an add6 chord; similar chords would also exist within C minor triads.
Minor Thirds
Minor chords produce a more melancholic sound and often add tension into songs; they are an essential element of piano music.
Minor chords rely on major third intervals as their fundamental building block, making it essential to distinguish between minor and major intervals as well as understand their visual appearance on the staff.
This will enable you to form the correct chords in any key. When creating a minor chord, its root and fifth note remain constant, but its third is lowered by one minor third; hence its name.
An easy way to create minor chords is by shifting a note down two semi-tones (the smallest step on a piano). This will produce a minor chord. Furthermore, learning the minor scale will help you understand its components – making creating and recognising minor chords much simpler!
Diminished Chords
A diminished chord has an unusual and menacing sound that is easy to create on piano progressions. These chords are constructed by stacking a minor third over an inverted fifth which creates an interval of three half steps – great for adding drama!
To create a diminished chord, simply locate the root note of your triad and identify its fifth note from its respective major scale (1, 3, 5). Flatten this fifth note two semitones to create a diminished triad.
Diminished chords are extremely useful as they can be utilized across many different genres of music. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with them; it will make a significant impactful statement about your piano playing! Next step should be learning how to build diminished seventh chords which will add depth and variety in your progressions – be sure to practice and study basic music theory with Skoove!