chord construction triads

Chord Construction

C Major Scale

C D E F G A B C

whole step C D

whole step D E

half step E F

whole step F G

whole step G A

whole step A B

half step B C

Starting at the C assign a numerical order 1

C=1,D=2,E=3,F=4,G=5,A=6,B=7,C=8

a major scale uses 1,3,5

so a Cmajor chord = C E G

F chord= F A C

G chord= G B D

a minor scale uses 1,b3(flat third),5

so a Cm chord = C, Eb,G

Fm chord= F,Ab,C

Gm chord= G, Bb, D

Dm chord= D,F,A

Augmented chords= 1,3,#5(sharp)

Diminished chords= 1,3b,5b

7th's= 1,3,5,7 ...4 note chords

major 7th= 1,3,5,7

minor= 1,3b,5,7b

minor 7th(b5)= 1,3b,5b,7b

Blues or dominate 7= 1,3,5,7b

diminished 7th= 1,3b,5b,7bb(double flat)

A basic chord is built on 3 notes. These 3 note chords are called “triads”. Other notes can be added to a tried to make “extensions”. This lesson will focus just on triads. Extensions will be covered in a later lesson.

There are 6 important types of chords that you need to know: Major chords, minor chords, diminished chords, augmented chords, sus chords, and 5 chords. Major and Minor chords are the most important chords in western music. Diminished chords are also very important. Major chords are said to have a “happy” tone while minor chords are said to have a “sad” tone. Diminished chords are great for building tension. This lesson will explain how to make major, minor, and diminished chords. So lets build some chords.

If you remember from the lesson on the major scale, there are 7 notes in the major scale. By taking certain notes out of this scale we can build a triad. So what notes do we take? Well that depends on what chord we want to build.

The Formula’s for major and minor chords are as follows:
Major: 1-3-5 . So that means you take the 1st, the 3rd note and the 5th note and play them together. That gives you a major triad.

Minor: 1-3b-5. Minor chords are made by taking the 1st note, the b3rd (this means you “flat” the 3rd note by moving it down one half-step), and the 5th note.

Diminished: 1-3b-5b. Diminished chords are made by playing the 1st note and flatting both the 3rd and the 5th notes of a scale.

So the difference between a major and minor triad is the 3rd note. A minor triad has a flat third note.

You will notice that to build a chord we are stacking either Major 3rd or minor 3rd intervals on top of each other. So chords are made by stacking 3rds.

Lets take a look at the C major scale and apply our chord formulas:

So if we want to make a C minor chord all we have to do is flat the 3rd. So lets move the E note down one half step. So C minor would be C, Eb, G. Got it? And what would a C diminished chord be?

You got it. C, Eb, Gb. (because we flat the 3rd and 5th notes!)

Now lets look at the guitar chord charts and see how to play these chords.

Memorize Formulas, Not Chords!

It is not necessary to memorize hundreds of chords. All you need to do is to learn the formula for making each chord type, and create the chord needed using the appropriate formula. This saves brain power from being wasted on unnecessary effort. It also allows gives you the true understanding of chord-construction, so if you later want to modify the chord, (make inversions) you will know what you are doing.

You Don’t Need to Know All Your Scales!

The way chords are usually taught are by first introducing scales. It is typically explained that a minor chord will use the 1, b3 (“flat 3rd”) and 5. (This terminology refers to the 1st, 3rd, and 5th “degree” of the scale.) A diminished chord will use the 1, b3 and b5. The reason this method is so slow to learn and to apply is that the person must first be fluent in all twelve major and minor scales! It’s not that this is bad, it’s just that it is NOT NECESSARY in order to play chords!

Steps Make Thirds.

Steps make thirds and thirds make chords.

Before you can understand chords, you should first understand thirds. The half step is the interval we will use to make thirds. Half steps are the smallest distance between any two notes. When you play all the half steps it is called the “chromatic scale.” It doesn’t matter if the notes are black or white. For example, the distance between C and C# is a half step. E to F is also a half step.

The following formulas explain how to make thirds:

3 half steps = minor third (m3)
4 half steps = major third (M3)

Thirds Drill.

Practice making minor and major thirds . Select any note at random and then count three half steps higher to make a minor third and four half steps higher to make a major third. Practice making 12 minor thirds and 12 major thirds, starting on each note of the chromatic scale. This drill may take between one day and several weeks to master before you feel comfortable. Do not go on until you feel comfortable at making major and minor thirds. In fact, each of the following steps is built on the previous. Try to master each step before going on.

Thirds Make Chords.

Now you are ready to learn about how chords are made. When you stack thirds together, a chord is created. The chords are always built from left to right on the keyboard. The name of the chord is based on the first note of the chord which is called the “root.” A chord is technically defined as 3 or more notes arranged by thirds. A triad is a chord with only three notes.

Chord Formulas.

There are four basic triad chords. All more advanced chords are built on these. So, it is crucial that you understand the following formulas before you try to make more complex chords:

M3 + m3 = Major Triad
m3 + M3 = Minor Triad
m3 + m3 = Diminished Triad
M3 + M3 = Augmented Triad

Chord Drill.

On every note of the chromatic scale, ascending and descending, build the following chords: Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented, Major — in root position in with any fingers, one hand at a time. Apply the above formulas, stacking thirds on top of one another to create each chord. Say the name of each chord before you play it. For example:

Say “C Major” then play it
Say “C Minor” then play it
Say “C Diminished” then play it
Say “C Augmented” then play it
Say “C Major” then play it

Then do the same on C#, and continue to C, one octave higher. Then descend. Identify the chords which start on the black notes by their sharp names going up and by their flat names going down. This will help you recognize them either way and become familiar with them. Soon, you may notice a pattern of changes as you go from one chord to the next. For example, from major to minor, the middle note of the chord moves down by half step. The reason we return to the Major chord at the end of each cycle is so that it is easier to go to the next key.

Learn the Chord Symbols.

If “Eb” is our generic chord, the symbols for each triad would look like this:

Eb Major = Eb
Eb Minor = Ebmin or Ebm or Eb-
Eb Diminished = Ebdim or Eb°
Eb Augmented = Ebaug or Eb+

Play Songs Using Chords.

After you have become familiar with basic triads, you are ready to actually play the chords as they occur in songs. Get a songbook or a “fake book” and notice above the musical notation are chord symbols. Start playing these chords by their symbols as they occur in the music. If some of the chords in the music have more advanced symbols like “7” or “9,” for now, just delete this part of the symbol and play the elements that you currently know how to build. For example, if the chord symbol says Cm9, just play C minor.

Inversion Drill.

Sometimes, chords sound better when you play the notes of the chord in a different order than the order in which they were created. The original order is called “root position” (For example: a C chord contains the individual notes, C-E-G.) If you take the lowest note (C) and place it one octave higher, you end up with “first inversion” (E-G-C.) If you take the new lowest note (E) and place it one octave higher, you end up with “second inversion” (G-C-E).

Play the following sequence on all major and minor triads, for two octaves ascending and descending:

Root-1st-2nd-Root-1st-2nd-Root. (Then reverse)

Seventh Chord Formulas

Most common 7th chords:

M3 + m3 (Major Triad) + M3 = Major Seven “Ebmaj7”
M3 + m3 (Major Triad) + m3 = Seven “Eb7”
m3 + M3 (Minor Triad) + m3 = Minor Seven “Ebmin7, Ebm7, Eb-7”
m3 + m3 (Diminished Triad) + m3 = Diminished Seven “Ebdim7, Eb°7”

There are 3 types of chords that you can relate all your chords to:
Major Chords (bright – pretty sounding)
Minor Chords (dark – serious sounding)
Dominant Chords (chords with a bite!

There are countless combinations and inversions. If you can understand how they are put together and how they function, you can make chord melodies a whole lot easier.
A chord symbol will describe which notes are being played together out of our scale. There can also be numbers, sharps and flats to indicate if there are any modifications needed to be made.
Our 3 types of chords are as follows:
C major = 1 3 5 = C E G
C minor = 1 b3 5 = C Eb G
C dominant = 1 3 5 b7 = C E G Bb

Major Chords
C (C E G)
C6 (C E G A)
Cmaj7 (C E G B)
Cmaj9 (C E G B D)
Cmaj7#11 (C E G B F#)
Cmaj13#11 ( C E B D F# A)
Minor Chords
Cm ( C Eb G)
Cm7 (C Eb G Bb)
Cm9 (C Eb G Bb D)
Cm11 (C Eb G Bb D F)
Cm6 (C Eb G A)
Dominant Chords
C7 (C E G Bb)
C9 (C E G Bb D)
C13 (C E G Bb D A)
C7b9 (C E G Bb Db)
C7b9b13 (C E G Bb Db Ab)
C7#5 (C E G# Bb)
C7b5 (C E Gb Bb)
C7b9#11b13 (C E G Bb Db F# Ab)
Cdim7 (C Eb Gb Bbb)
Suspended Chords
Csus2 (C D G)
C7sus4 (C F G Bb)

If you use the C major scale with the degrees marked and the chord formulas I presented to you, you should get a good general idea of how C chords are built. You can do the exact same with the other eleven notes of the chromatic scale! The diminished scale has a dominant characteristic, but really sticks out. Therefore it is grouped with the dominant chords, but I separated it in the formulas. The suspended chord belongs to “no one.” The 3rd and the 7th degree are the most important notes to give color (its tonal characteristic) to a chord. When the 3rd degree is removed, it has a floating type of tone. It is not until the other chords in a song or the melody can give away its nature of major, minor or dominant.