A major chord consists of three notes, beginning with its root note and progressing up through middle third and fifth scale degrees for any given key.
Each chord is identified with a capital letter followed by roman numerals to signify its stacking intervals above its root note (I). Note that additional musical symbols or abbreviations can also be included.
Major Triads
In the major scale there are three notes which come together to form the perfect fifth – an interval fundamental to most chords and triads, recognizable by counting lines or spaces on either treble clef. It is one of the most consonant intervals available and easily identified with counting lines or spaces on bass or treble clef.
Move a fifth up from C to create G major, without sharps or flats, as our reference point for creating Western music’s 24 keys.
A ninth chord consists of the root, third, fifth and seventh tones from a major scale and is often written as Cm9. Narrowing an interval produces minor qualities while widening it produces major ones.
Major Sevenths
A major seventh chord produces an expressive sound. Composed of three tones – root, major third and major seventh above the root – it has its own special charm. An example would be Cmaj7 with C as root note, E as major third and G as its major seventh tone.
As long as you know your major triads and can switch easily between them, playing this chord should be effortless. Plus, turning a major 7th into a minor 7th by simply lowering its third by half step is no hassle either!
Learn this chord when preparing to change rhythmic patterns or modulating to other keys. It can also serve as an invaluable aid when modulating between keys.
Minor Triads
Once you know how to play major chords in a key, learning minor triads is as easy as replacing the third note with one that is minor. Minor triads have five qualities – diminished, minor, major, perfect and augmented – each offering distinct qualities of tone.
These chord qualities are based on the notes 1, 3, and 5 in a minor scale piano diagram, shown above. Certain qualities require that the third note of this scale be raised or lowered by half-note / semitone / piano key as shown below.
Minor chords are typically written with a lowercase “m,” or abbreviated as M to make reading them easier. For example: an Am chord would be written this way.
Minor Sevenths
Minor seventh interval is an interval consisting of two notes with an approximate difference of 10 semi-steps between them, found both natural and harmonic minor scales as well as some 7th chords like Cm7 which contains notes C, Eb, G and Bb.
Combining a major triad and minor seventh produces an augmented or diminished chord. These chords are usually known by their fifth or seventh tone rather than for their quality as thirds.
One of the more familiar examples is an F major/minor seventh chord, or “m7”, made up of C (the root), E flat (minor third), and G (perfect fifth). This exotic sounding chord provides a distinctive sound.
Major Fifths
The perfect fifth is the most consonant interval in any scale and forms the basis for major and minor triads, as well as chord formation. Remembering its position will aid your chord creation efforts.
Stepping one fifth up from C will bring you to the key of G, which contains no sharps and flats.
From here, you can advance one fifth until reaching the key of D, which features one sharp and two flats. Some keys may also feature accidentals – both are valid keys; these differences can help when modulating to other keys.
Minor Fifths
Once again, when examining the circle of fifths, major keys with sharps lie outside its borders while minor key signatures that include flats move counterclockwise – this occurs because keys with flats add one as you ascend while sharps add one as they descend.
Minor chords are formed using notes found within the natural minor scale. I minor and V minor are both minor triads while B minor is an exception as it forms a major triad.
The i minor scale is composed of three lower scale degrees than its major-scale equivalent, two less in harmonic minor and one fewer than melodic minor. Furthermore, its solfege syllables differ.