Major and Minor chords form two essential building blocks of Western music’s harmony system. Many would describe major chords as being brighter and more optimistic while minor chords sound darker and more melancholic.
Major chords consist of three distinct notes, including its root note and intervals of thirds and fifths above it. Extended chords contain more than these three notes and are known as extended chords.
Root note
When playing chords, the thickest string that you press with your hands is known as the root note – also referred to as the base note of major chords and often found in their names.
Major chords come in various varieties, including minor, diminished, 7th and 9th chords. While each type has its own set of notes and formula, all use the same foundational principle; add one third to a major scale and you get either a minor triad (C-Eb-G) or Major 7th chord (1-3-5-7).
Seventh and ninth notes can be raised or lowered to create various extensions of dominant 7th chords, such as C79. This chord sounds similar to a dominant 7th but is dissonant than its 6th note counterpart, giving more resonance with melodies or other musical elements. Notes outside of the major scale can also be added for more complex chords.
Major third
Understand the major scale is essential to building chords. This knowledge will allow you to recognize major and minor chords as well as their respective transitions. Furthermore, intervals should also be studied; these essentially measure distance between notes which determines chord quality.
Example of Major Third Note (C vs E). A major third is four half steps higher than its root note and should contain four C’s as its base notes; consequently, E is its third note (the root being C and three being E and five being G and B being B and C respectively). When played together as one chord called major triad.
Major and minor thirds both span three staff positions, but the former differs by its greater number of semitones. Other intervals exist as well, including diminished thirds – quarter tones lower than major thirds but rarely seen in actual music performance.
Perfect fifth
The perfect fifth is an intermediate interval that lies at the root of a major chord, characterized by greater consonance or stability than its fellow triadic intervals; thus giving it more powerful sound than, say, major second interval.
Locate a perfect fifth by counting forward in the Cycle of Thirds; for example, above A, this would be E while below it would be B. Any note which falls exactly five steps above or below another note can also be considered parallel fifths.
The perfect fifth is also used as the basis of other types of chords, including augmented and diminished ones. By stacking two major thirds together you’ll create a major augmented chord (C, E, G#); using two minor thirds will form a minor augmented chord (C, F, A). Suspended chords known as Csus2 or Csus4 can also be created from replacing fifth chords with sixths; this style of music can often be found in rock and metal music genres.
Final note
A major chord is an integral component of many songs and the first chord that most musicians learn. It consists of three notes from the major scale – its first, third and fifth notes – joined in a triad form.
One key thing to keep in mind when learning music theory is the distinction between major and minor chords – they both share similar notes but differ significantly in how they’re played. A minor chord can be created by adding the flattened third of C to E to any major chord (C-E-G).
Music theory offers another tool for adding intervals to basic chords to create more complex ones, which jazz musicians use when seeking dissonance, such as by adding seventh or ninth to major chords. Suzanne Vega uses this method in her song ‘Luka’ with dark lyrics that contrast against a light and playful chord progression; another great example can be heard in Daft Punk’s Digital Love where sadness slowly gives way to major chord progression at the end.