Chords are groups of notes arranged into particular patterns to elicit different emotions in music. Major chords typically create sounds which are brighter and happier while minor chords evoke sadness or melancholy emotions.
Most people know that major chords consist of the first, third, and fifth degrees of a major scale – but there’s much more to them than this!
Major Third
Major Thirds are two semitones higher than their respective root notes and an integral component of most popular chords. Roman numeral analysis makes it easy to identify chord types containing major thirds; C major, for instance, contains one such note.
Major and minor scales and chords differ by virtue of an interval that gives major scales a bright, cheerful sound while minor scales and chords tend to sound darker, sadder. Furthermore, this interval serves to distinguish them from each other and set them apart as distinct musical entities.
A major chord can be composed from any root note and will consist of three steps from any scale: first, third and fifth degrees from C to G on John Legend’s All of Me; these correspond to C E G C E as first third fifth steps respectively from G major scale. A major chord also features perfect fifths; these consist of two successive minor thirds that come together into an “octave”, or Major Third which also serves as a perfect fifth chord.
Minor Third
A minor third is a musical interval composed of one small whole step and three half steps, or semitones, in duration; in staff notation this covers three positions on the staff.
Minor thirds can usually be identified by their overall sound – sad or mournful in character – something you can hear in John Legend’s piano ballad All of Me as an example.
Not to be misunderstood, a minor third doesn’t necessitate that the chord must be flattened (or “flatted”) – rather, any key can work so long as its minor third is lower than its root note.
So a minor 6 chord can be written as Cm6, while its counterpart, minor major 7, can be C7. All that’s required to create this effect is for the minor 3 to be lower than its major 3. This gives it its characteristic sadness or sorrowful tone while simultaneously creating full and deep sounding chords.
Major Triad
Once you learn to play major triads, creating supportive basslines for melodies should become much simpler.
As soon as one looks closely at a major scale, one thing becomes immediately obvious: its third note sits one whole step above its root note – making the third an interval with major sound that creates major chords.
No matter the key that you’re playing in, major and minor chords always possess distinct properties that distinguish them.
Note also that the fifth note in a major scale is seven half steps higher than its root note, making the fifth an interval and providing the chord structure.
Minor Triad
Minor triads are made up of the first, third, and fifth notes from the minor scale combined together with flattened (lowered) minor third intervals to produce darker sounding chords than its major chord equivalents.
Minor chords can add tension and excitement to a song while simultaneously giving a sense of melancholy or sadness to its melody.
A minor seventh chord is composed of a minor triad combined with the seventh degree of the minor scale and can be notated as C minor seventh (Cm7).
To determine whether a chord is minor or major, play it and count the semitones between its first and third notes. A C triad is considered major since it contains E; while its counterpart, D triad, has F in it making it easy to differentiate minor from major chords.