Minor chords add depth and interest to piano music, creating an impressive performance. There are twelve basic minor chords, which can be further expanded upon to create more complex ones.
Minor chords are constructed from three-note triads and can be formed by shifting major scale notes down three semitone steps. As such, they’re easy to learn!
How to Build a Minor Chord
Learning minor chords on piano is an excellent way to add more depth and emotion to your music. These chords can create a sad or melancholy atmosphere in songs, or add tension and drama.
Minor chords follow the same basic structure as their major counterparts and consist of three basic keyboard notes: root note, minor third and perfect fifth. They differ from major chords by having their third note lowered by one semitone or half step.
An effective method for building minor chords is using the chord formula 1-b3-5, starting from its root note, then lowering its third by one semitone, and adding two half steps above it – similar to what major and minor triads require.
Major and Minor Triads
Once you’ve learned both major and minor triads, you can use them to craft custom chord progressions. Minor chords are especially helpful because they pair nicely with other chord types and create an ominous atmosphere in your music.
Minor chords share the same notes as their major counterparts, but the third tone has been reduced by one semitone – giving a darker and gloomier sound while adding tension to piano music.
Triads are chords composed of the first, third and fifth notes in any scale; any note may serve as the root note in such a triad, and it may feature either major or minor intervals.
Minor triads are the easiest type of triad to recognize and identify due to the third being flattened versions of major thirds; this helps explain the distinctions between minor and major chords.
Minor Chords in a Chord Progression
Learn to play minor chords on piano by understanding the relationship between major and minor triads. A minor chord can be created by lowering its third note by one half step – this applies to any triad that contains a root note, major third, and perfect fifth note triad.
Once you understand this relationship, incorporating minor chords into piano progressions becomes much simpler. Many popular songs utilize them and their emotional tone can give your music more somber undertones.
Minor chords offer you plenty of choices for creating progressions, including minor 7th chords and diminished chords. Minor triads are the most frequently used kind, which consists of three notes–root note, minor third, and perfect fifth–along with perfect fifths to form an imperfect fifth–which you can create a minor seventh chord from by adding one minor seventh note onto a regular major triad.
Minor Chord Symbols
Minor chord symbols differ slightly from those used for major chords on music staffs. Most commonly, you will notice a slash (/) above each symbol that represents minor chords to indicate they will last two beats instead of just one.
To play a minor chord, start with the root note and add in its third and fifth notes from the minor scale – then lower its middle note by one half step (ie, for Cm, play C on your left hand).
Add an additional fourth note to a minor triad and create a four-note chord, known as a minor seventh chord – usually denoted with an “m7” symbol (small or capital letters Cm7); you may also build minor 11 chords, which is similar to major 7th chord but with an additional minor seventh added at its base (Cm11).