Major chords form the backbone of many songs and should be one of your first chords to learn. A major chord consists of three notes from any major scale it represents: first, third and fifth notes respectively.
Major chords produce a cheerful sound, as seen in classic hits by John Lennon or Britney Spears such as Imagine or Toxic.
Root
Root Note of a ChordThe root note of any chord serves as its basis and serves as the point from which other notes can be added and function as bass notes; for example, in C Major chord, G note serves as the bass note.
Major chords are typically the first type of chord you learn as they tend to produce happy-sounding results. Major chords comprise three notes; root, major third and perfect fifth (1-3-5).
An A Major chord consists of C, E and A as its roots; E serves as a major third above C; while A serves as its fifth (perfect fifth below). You can add another sixth note and form what’s known as a major 6th or sixth with added ninth (maj9 or m9) chord.
Major Third
The major third is an interval that connects two pitches within a chord and has become one of the cornerstones of music, producing an easy to recognize sound with vibrant, joyful tones.
Major triads are composed of the first, fourth and fifth scale degrees in any major key signature. If a triad contains two major thirds between its lowest and highest notes, this interval is known as an “augmented fourth”, while three major thirds creates what’s known as a diminished seventh.
Equal temperament has three pure major thirds that fall within an octave (A to C, C to E and F to G). Meanone tunings like GD-comma or 2/7-comma tuning can have up to four septimal major thirds that act like diminished sevenths enharmonically.
Bohlen-Pierce thirds, known by other names such as septimal supermajor triad playi and 9-limit consonance, are another type of enharmonic interval near major thirds.
Perfect Fifth
The perfect fifth is one of the most stable and consonant intervals available, comprising two notes seven semitones apart. It occurs above the root in all major and minor triads as well as power chords (which we will explore later).
Perfect fifths have an extremely positive response in our ears and tend to make us yearn for them to resolve, in contrast with dissonant intervals like tritones that cause tension in a song. A good ear training program should introduce students to harmonic intervals such as perfect fifths in addition to melodic intervals like tritones.
The perfect fifth is one of four intervals considered perfect by the chromatic circle model, which measures nearness not as adjacency but as distance based on fractional ratios (the ratio of two notes divided by a whole step). It contains both major triad intervals from bottom note to middle note as well as minor triads between middle note and top note – an interval often used as an anchor between these notes in chord progressions.
Inversions
Chord inversions add depth and dimension to chords. Though their tonal qualities may remain similar to their original chord, interval changes give each inversion its own distinct sound. As a guitarist, learning various inversions of one chord such as G major is a great way to expand your vocabulary of chords – try practicing playing both its first and second inversions until they become routine parts of your practice sessions – they will only get better with experience!
Inversions refers to the order of notes that determine whether a chord is root, third or fifth in its progression. Vibrato, on the other hand, refers only to bass notes without changing their order; for instance a C chord with G in its bass represents second inversion because G is lower than C.