Most musicians can quickly recognize major and minor chords by their distinct tones: major chords typically feel bright and uplifting while minor chords have an unnerving or disquieting quality to them.
Minor chords create tension because their flat third pushes them outside the diatonic scale’s harmonic framework, creating unresolved tension that musicians use to express deeper emotions through music.
Root Note
Root notes are the starting points for chords; when removed they leave them unbalanced or without fundamental notes. Root notes function similarly to scale home notes – setting harmonic tonality that’s always expected and present in any piece of music.
Most chords are named for their root note; for instance, if a chord was called G it can be assumed that its root note is C; since all chords built upon the C major scale have this note as their basis.
Root notes are key in understanding chord construction and names. Furthermore, understanding how chord inversion works is also vitally important – chord inversion allows you to reorder a chord such that another note becomes the lowest-sounding note, creating more melodic sounding chords overall.
Major Third
The major third, or M3, is a musical interval formed when two notes are separated by two whole steps; for instance, C to E will produce such an interval while F to G will result in a minor third.
M3 chords are integral components of major chords as they produce a bright and pleasing sound, often used to express our happiness or joy through song lyrics.
Minor chords are constructed around minor thirds that create a melancholic and solemn sound in music, often making for sad or reflective songs. Dissonant features can also play an integral part of song mood as they imply tension or instability and allow composers and songwriters to manipulate audiences by manipulating emotional responses through compositions.
Minor Third
Minor thirds are an interval that form minor chords in music theory. An interval is the distance between two notes expressed as half steps (semitones) on staff notation; thus a minor third consists of three half steps or semitones).
Minor chords are made up of any two notes which are one minor third apart and can be played ascending or descending, and are written using either flat letter names or sharp letter names.
Minor thirds can be found both major and minor scales. As opposed to major thirds, however, minor thirds tend to play an essential part of major key progressions like ii-v-I and are essential building blocks of diatonic minor chords; their prominent use can even be found in Radiohead’s Creep with its famous descending minor IV chord; they’re often borrowed by creative songwriters to spice up diatonic major progressions – Greensleeves begins with an ascending minor IV chord for instance!
Perfect Fifth
The perfect fifth is a musical interval consisting of seven semi-steps. Medieval musicians considered it one of four intervals which were fully consonant – alongside unison, perfect fourth, and octave.
To find a Perfect Fifth above or below a given note, count forward two steps in the Cycle of Thirds from that given note (ie G, 2) until it lands on D or F respectively and you have your answer. Likewise for below which you count backward two steps (1 F 2 B).
Be wary when responding to chord questions that reference using a perfect fifth. For example, if the chord symbol shows C7+ this would require an augmented fifth which might clash with its notes, so using one would not be appropriate here. Instead, check the answer charts page to understand how intervals work in such cases.