Associating major chords with happiness and minor chords with sadness is often assumed; however, these assumptions don’t hold up in all music genres.
Major and minor chords follow the same formula in any key, so to comprehend this we must examine a key’s relative minor scale.
Root Note
Root notes of chords are the lowest pitches within their full chord structure and determine its bass line – the foundation for melody – while also setting its tonal center and creating the mood and atmosphere you wish to convey with music.
Minor scale root notes are found on strings 1, 3, and 6. They form a triangle shape and span three octaves; just like major scale patterns, this root pattern will remain consistent regardless of which key you’re playing in.
The key element that distinguishes major and minor-sounding scales, chords and arpeggios from each other lies in the third. It gives major scales and chords their brighter sound while minor ones produce their sadder tone. One important thing to keep in mind about minor chords is their constant presence of both minor third and fifth notes (whether minor or major thirds respectively). Also note that minor chords always contain both third and fifth components – with either major third or minor third notes depending on whether their chord contains both elements (see previous point).
Minor Third
The Minor Third is one of the key intervals to remember when learning music theory and one of the initial intervals encountered when playing chords.
Minor thirds are intervals that span three half steps (semitones) on the staff, making it one of the shortest intervals and common thirds, alongside major thirds which span three whole steps.
Major and minor thirds can both be perfect or dissonant; other major and minor intervals that can also be either perfect or dissonant include unison, octave, perfect fifth and perfect fourth.
The augmented second isn’t usually considered perfect or dissonant due to only comprising two whole steps rather than the more typical three. However, depending on its use in context it could either be perceived as perfect or dissonant.
Perfect Fifth
The perfect fifth is an integral component of tonic, subdominant, and dominant triads in any key. Chords derived from scale degrees other than tonic will often also feature this note as an overtone; however if desired you may omit this element from minor chords altogether; although this may result in less pleasing sounding songs but won’t result in music theory police investigations!
Many improvised musicians opt for this technique in order to produce more vibrant sounds, which contrast more vividly with the melancholic, dark tone of minor chords.
Why we refer to perfect intervals as “major” intervals is somewhat of a puzzle; yet knowing this terminology will prove useful when trying to create soundscapes of various kinds. Similar to learning the difference between a major chord and minor chord (both dissonant sounds with differing tones and frequencies), knowing these distinctions will help identify what kind of sound you want to produce.
Major Third
A major third is four half steps above the root note and is a popular chord interval, especially for minor triads.
diatonic chords contain both major thirds and minor thirds; their differences lie primarily in that minor thirds tend to feel darker while major thirds feel brighter due to an interval difference.
Ofttimes, you will discover that the 7th of a minor chord is also a major 7. This works beautifully as it provides contrast between its brightness and darkness – the latter of which are key components to successful chord playing.
Major seventh chords combine a major triad with an added seventh degree from the major scale to form chords with major seventh degree intervals. You’ll typically find them written as Cmaj7, CM7 or even C7; memorizing these differences is a great way to train your ears and understand how these chords sound, helping you make better choices when adding them into songs or progressions.