Major chords are usually the first chord people learn, often being associated with creating a joyful atmosphere and sound. By comparison, minor chords may produce sadder emotions.
These chords consist of three components – root, major third and perfect fifth (1 – 3 – 5). If you leave out the perfect fifth you will produce either an augmented chord (C, E or G) or diminished chords (C# or Db).
Root
Root chords form the cornerstone of any major key, serving to establish its tonal center and as the basis for chords and scales in that particular key.
Root notes of chords also determine their quality and numbering within keys, making memorizing chords of a major scale and learning their qualities and numbers all essential skills for accurate key identification.
Most chords are constructed by stacking intervals of a third on top of one another (with some exceptions such as 6th or added tone chords), so its root can be used to determine both its quality and key position by simply rearrange into 3rds.
This effective yet straightforward strategy will enable you to internalize the chords of a key, so that when building them without consulting charts or piano piano keyboard, they become part of you and are easily built upon. Furthermore, this strategy will quickly help you understand chord progressions and function when performing songs from your favorite artists.
Major Third
A major third is an interval composed of two notes that are two whole steps apart and is the second-most frequent chord type in any major scale.
The major third is an important element of the triad, an essential building block in harmonic composition. A triad is comprised of three notes; its root note, major third above it and perfect fifth above.
Major thirds are one of the most consonant intervals after unison, octave, and perfect fifth. Additionally, they’re an essential element of dominat seventh chords.
The viio chord is an effective backdoor progression when used in minor keys.
Perfect Fifth
Perfect intervals have one whole step and are central components of both major and minor triad structures. Their name reflects their consonant quality without any sharps or flats present – thus earning their name “perfect”.
It serves as the basis of numerous popular melodies, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony opening theme, while in some cultures this interval can help evoke feelings of closure and closure.
On a piano keyboard, it is simple to identify whether an interval is perfect by matching two notes together. If both notes are sharpened or flattened by more than equal amounts, their distance may increase or decrease respectively – however if their accidentals match in terms of distance then the interval remains perfect.
Why it matters: Knowing and understanding the Circle of Fifths makes determining black keys on a keyboard much simpler and faster.
Major Triad
A major triad is an essential building block of music and one you should first master. These three-note groupings produce a bright, stable sound essential in creating tonality and harmony within an arrangement; additionally they’ve formed the basis of many classic songs, from The Cure’s post-punk classic ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ to Beyonce’s R&B ballad ‘Halo’.
To construct a major triad, start from the lowest note of your key (for instance C Major). From there, count up four notes: the second note would be C-E and third G; this interval creates a major third that provides more stable tones than minor third (sometimes called an “augmented fifth”).
Acquiring knowledge of major chords across all 12 keys is a necessary aspect of musical knowledge for any musician, alongside scales in all keys (and being aware of where differences arise between keys such as C# and Db, which may seem similar but don’t match), this is one of the most essential skills you can acquire.
Major Triads
Major triads are perhaps the most recognizable chord structure, consisting of the first, third and fifth notes from any scale. Commonly used across genres and providing an upbeat atmosphere when performed live music performances, major triads can add joy to music performance.
Quality in triads can be judged by its intervals from its root note, which can be identified using key signatures and enharmonic equivalence to ascertain. Chords named accordingly would include Dmaj3 for instance when there is major third and perfect fifth intervals within it.
Once you know this pattern, creating major chords on any piano note should be simple. Triads built upon Fa and Sol (1 and 4) are major chords; those on Do and Mi (2 and 3) are minor; and Ti (7) is diminished (shown with a superscript degree symbol). Doublings or open spacing may be used but the process remains the same.
Minor Triads
As soon as you’ve mastered major triads, they can also be used to form minor ones by simply replacing one third with a minor third. The quality will remain the same; all that changes is its sonic characteristics.
Triads can be distinguished from each other by the root note, the third note and perfect fifth. Together these notes define their sonic identity – whether major or minor chord.
To create a minor triad, simply replace the third with a minor third note and move all three notes up by one semitone – for instance C minor is easily achieved this way.
Dominant Seventh Chords
The dominant seventh chord is an unusual type of seventh chord that creates an exceptional kind of tension before offering resolution or cadence back towards its tonic chord. It is popularly used in blues music as well as most forms of contemporary Western music.
To create a dominant seventh chord, start with your chord’s root note and layer it with notes from the major scale stacked above it – typically this would include major 3rd, perfect 5th, and flat 7th notes from major scale. Don’t forget to use this technique when performing 1 4 5 progressions!
As you develop your knowledge of seventh chords, try to commit the sound to memory so you can easily identify it when encountering them in songs or blues progressions. This will enable you to play them quickly and fluidly without having to think too hard about which is the appropriate fretting hand position.
Minor Seventh Chords with an Added 7th
Minor seventh chords are tertian chords formed of stacks of major thirds and minor thirds that span four semitones, creating 7 different permutations, but only 5 are often heard in western music: minor, minor major, dominant diminished and half-diminished sevenths.
This chord features two tendency tones as opposed to just one for a major seventh chord, making it more dissonant. Like its dominant seventh counterpart, however, this chord wishes to resolve into its root chord by creating dissonance within itself and eventually moving towards resolution at root chord level.
To form a minor seventh chord, begin with a minor triad and lower its third note by half step; this will result in a C minor 7. To create a major seventh, change F and G to A (and add a flat 5). This notation style is how most jazz chords are written; practicing these two methods for building seventh chords will come in handy!
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.