At first glance, major chords seem brighter and happier than minor ones musically speaking. One explanation may be that the interval between root and third creates a different feel to each chord created from them.
The Beach Boys’ classic tune ‘California Girls’ utilizes major chords throughout its first verse to convey a positive, hopeful atmosphere in its lyrics.
Triads
Triads play an essential role in music composition, from lush ballad harmonies to the rhythmic beat of dance tracks. Triads consist of three notes – root note, third, and fifth; major triads contain notes from the major scale while minor ones draw upon notes from the minor scale; their intervals determine its quality and shape its sound as part of a song’s overall melody.
Triads may also occur with their notes arranged in different orders, a process known as chord inversion. For instance, moving the third from C up one semitone creates an E minor triad.
As when writing chords, key signature is essential when creating chords. This is due to how it determines the available scale degrees and allows triad construction. This in turn influences both its overall sound and how tension is created within it.
Root Note
Root note in major chords serves to identify its identity and tonal quality; additionally it forms the basis for key-specific chords and scales that compose them.
Root notes can be altered in many different ways while still remaining chord types; for instance, in the above major chord, C (or E) could be inverted and played below G, adding another tone as bass – still making for a C major chord but with its own distinct sound and color.
Notes outside of a chord’s key can sometimes add tension that needs to be resolved – this could either sound great or terrible! When adding non-keynote notes such as minor 3rds to a major chord, however, tension must be released or it could sound terrible! While adding 9th notes can sound more pleasant over a major chord.
Third Note
Major chords contain an integral note called the third note which determines their major or minor status, known as an important decision-maker for chord voicings.
When discussing intervals on a staff, it can be useful to think of them like fractions; the numerator represents the root note and denominator the scale degree of its tonic note; when inverted this relationship remains unchanged despite changing order of notes.
Example: in C, we can create a major chord using only the second and fourth notes (C E G), creating tension which wants to resolve itself by switching out to its third note counterpart (C D E).
Similar to its major equivalent, the minor ii chord consists only of second and fourth notes but can lead to any major chord. For instance, Guns N’ Roses’ song, Patience uses this chord progression in G but uses D major chord to bring back to C chord.
Fifth Note
Musicians refer to the fifth note of any scale as the perfect fifth interval. This sound-producing interval is considered among the most consonant and pleasing aural experience, producing a full and rich tone when placed over its root note. Tertian harmonies (those containing three tones stacked above the root note) often utilize perfect fifths in order to soften dissonance between these two notes.
Major chords can often be heard in songs like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and other timeless classics, as well as chords such as Cadd9 from AC/DC songs.
As such, the 1 3 5 chord rule is usually known as the “major chord” rule. Other chords can follow this same pattern by adding extra notes for different sounds – for instance a C minor 9 has C, E (flattened 3rd), G and B with additional extra notes being added in as needed (C7 has C F A G); adding these extra notes modifies their sound but still keeps its pattern.