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Music Theory/Chords
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This is a basic introduction to chords. There is also a complete chord reference.

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Chords are the vertical arrangement of notes from a scale. The study of chords is called

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Harmony. Harmony is concerned with how one or more notes interact, and how they follow each

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other. Many people define chords as several notes played simultaneously. It must be pointed out
that it is possible to play music of a chordal nature on the flute, trumpet, or a lone human voice, all

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three being monophonic instruments. Since obviously monophonic instruments cannot play a

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stacked chord where the notes are sounded simultaneously; the chords are implied. A simpler way

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of viewing this is that when chord tones are played as an arpeggio on a monophonic instrument

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the human ear interprets that there is a harmonic structure. We therefore define a chord as the

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basic element of harmony. To start with we will look at examples of the most basic chord, the triad.

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Contents [hide]

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1 Triads

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2 Triads and Inversions

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3 Some Four-Voice Chords

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4 Intervals
5 Applying chords
6 Seventh chords
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What links here

7 Other chords

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8 External links

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Triads

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The triad is a class of chords, specifically three-note chords formed by this formula: 1-3-5 or root,
third, fifth. In this example they are constructed of two consecutive thirds.

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There are four kinds:

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Kinds of Triads

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Root 3rd 5th

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Major

Minor

Augmented

#5

Diminished

Commons
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3 5

=flat/lowered; #=sharp/raised

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The major is very consonant; the minor is a bit less so but still consonant for most purposes. The
augmented is very dissonant and the diminished is extremely dissonant as it contains a tritone
(augmented fourth or, in this case, diminished fifth).
The major and minor triads may have their third omitted, although this is uncommon. If the third of
a major or minor chord is omitted, the result is a fifth chord, which is often called a power chord

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when played on an overdriven guitar.

Triads and Inversions

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If we look at a C major triad or three-voice chord it is based on combining a root voice (C) with two
other voices at slightly different intervals of a third (E, a major third from C and G, a minor third
from E). If we compare the key of C major to the C major chord using the names do, re, mi, fa, so,
la, si, to represent the scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, the C major chord is constructed from the
notes do, mi, and so. This same relationship is true for all major triads in all corresponding major
keys.
Building a C Major
Triad
Note Degree Name
C

do

re

mi

fa

so

If we juxtapose these three notes (the root, major third and perfect fifth) they can be structured or
'voiced', C-E-G, E-G-C or G-C-E. No matter what order the three notes (called voices) are in they
still create a C major chord. It does not matter if the voices are the singers in a choir or the
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instruments of an orchestra, if the notes are all either C, E, or G we simply have a gigantic
sounding C chord.
The two consecutive intervals produced by these voicings would be:
C E G = major third, minor third (root pos'n),
E G C = minor third, perfect fourth (1st inv.),
G C E = perfect fourth, major third (second inv.).
If the root (C) is on the bottom this voicing is called root position. If the third (E) is on the bottom it
is called first inversion. If the fifth (G) is on the bottom this voicing of the triad is called second
inversion.
Since there are only three possible voicings of a triad it is relatively easy to hear them in that they
are a common feature of the past two centuries of traditional harmonic structures in Western
music. The use of the exponentially more complex voicings arising from 4-voice, 5-voice and larger
chords is more challenging. Some 4-voice chords are used in traditional, 'classical' and church
music but others such as the diminished seventh were strictly forbidden in early sacred music as
they contained the tritone interval; the mathematical halfway point in the octave which acquired the
name diabolus in musica (the Devil in music) due to its dissonant qualities. Other 4-voice chords
were not used in symphonic and 'classical' music until the French Impressionist era and in modern
jazz. All triads and 4-voice chords are built within the octave, or eight-note scale which
encompasses the do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do of the major scale, for instance, or the scale steps 1-2-34-5-6-7-8; eight being the octave where the pattern starts over again.
All triadic and therefore, common, chords can be constructed the same way : using the 1 3 5
formula. Take the C scale, for instance, [use "Rel. name" in a sentence in which "Rel." is not
abbreviated] :
Building Harmonizing Chords in the
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Building Harmonizing Chords in the

Scale of C Major
Degree

Chord

1-3-5

12345

Name

Triad Name

CDEFG

C Major

CEG

DEFGA

D Minor

DFA

iim

EFGAB

E Minor

EGB

iiim

FGABC

F Major

FAC

IV

GABCD

G Major

GBD

ABCDE

A Minor

ACE

vim

B C D E F B Diminished B D F

Rel.

viidim

This works for any scale, and whether the chord formed is minor or major depends on the scale:
the I, IV, V chords are major, and the rest are minor, with the seventh being diminished.

Some Four-Voice Chords

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Some Four-Voice Chords

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Name

chords of voice (voice)

Dominant Seventh

1 3 5 7

Major Seventh

1357

Minor Seventh

1 3 5 7

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Minor Sixth

13 5 6

Half-Diminished Seventh

1 3 5 7

Diminished Seventh

1 3 5 7

Intervals

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All chords are made up of interlocking or overlapping intervals. An interval may be defined as the
distance between two notes. The names of the chords are derived from the intervals that they are
built from. In order of smallest to largest the ascending intervals (and distance in semitones) within
the octave from a middle C would be as follows:
Intervals

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Interval

Note

Semitones

Minor 2nd

Major 2nd

Minor 3rd

Major 3rd

Perfect 4th

Augmented 4th

F#

Diminished 5th

Perfect 5th

Augmented 5th

G#

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7

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Augmented 5th

G#

Minor 6th

Major 6th

Minor 7th

10

Major 7th

11

Octave (8th)

12

1. Shaded interval pairs are enharmonic;

one interval with two names.
2. The Tritone is six semitones.

The dreaded tritone, six semitones up from the root (and six down from the octave), is harmonically
bewildering, being neither fish nor fowl, exactly halfway from nowhere; one interval with two names
(enharmonic in 12-tone equal temperament), the augmented 4th and the diminished 5th. Likewise,
the enharmonic augmented 5th and minor 6th are eight semitones up from the root.
By observing that 2nds, 3rds, 6ths and 7ths are always either major or minor and 4ths and 5ths
are always perfect, augmented (raised) or diminished (lowered) it becomes evident that major
chords have a major 3rd, minor chords have a minor third. By altering or manipulating these
intervals by raising or lowering the third, fifth, seventh, and so on, all of the possible chords can be
produced.
Some examples:
Some Example Chords
Voices
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Name

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135

Major

1 3 5

Minor

1 3 5

Diminished

1 3 #5

Augmented

1357

Major 7th

1 3 5 7

Dominant 7th

1 3 5 6

Minor 6th

1 3 5 7

Minor/Major 7th

1 3 5 7

Minor 7th

1 3 5 7

Minor 7th b5

1 3 5 7(6)

Diminished 7th

1 3 #5 7

Major 7th +5

1 3 #5 7

Dominant 7th +5

Applying chords

[edit]

The easiest way to apply a triad, or indeed any chord, is to pick one on a polyphonic instrument
(such as a piano) and play its three notes simultaneously. This is often how chords occur in actual
music: an instrument plays all the notes in the chord at the same time. However, there are other
possibilities. The simplest is to arpeggiate the chord, that is, to play its notes one at a time in any
order, especially in a ascending or descending order. Often melody can be written around the
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chord, using notes in the chord as well as the diatonic and chromatic passing notes between the
chord tones. When this is done while there is no accompaniment actually playing a chord, the
chord is implied.

Seventh chords

[edit]

Triads are often extended with some form of the seventh to form a seventh chord. When a chord is
referred to as simply a seventh chord, usually the dominant seventh is meant, which is a major
triad with a minor seventh, for instance, C-E-G-B. It is called the dominant seventh because the
V chord, or "dominant chord" in the Latin naming system, is the only major chord in the major scale
that can naturally contain a minor seventh. Because all sevenths are dissonant intervals, any
seventh chord is dissonant, in other words, a seventh chord is more tense than a major or minor
chord. However, a few styles of music, such as jazz, make heavy use of seventh chords and may
treat them as rather consonant.

Other chords

[edit]

Some chords are defined by the relation to the key rather than by any inherent characteristics.
The Neapolitan chord, for example, is an ordinary major chord, but its root is the lowered
supertonic of the corresponding key, so the Neapolitan of C major is a D major chord.
Additionally, the Neapolitan is usually found in first inversion. A borrowed chord is one from the
parallel major or minor key. In C major, the parallel key is C minor and borrowed chords include
E major, B major, and F minor.

External links

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Free Guitar Chords

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Huge collection of Chords, classical guitar tabs, guitar chord tabs, Tabs,

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Music Sheet etc.

All Guitar Chords

Chord finder, including split chords and chord variations. Also features

standard and exotic guitar scales for left handed guitar.

E-chords

Music guitar tabs archive with over 200,000 guitar chords for guitar.

Category: Music Theory

This page w as last modified on 23 May 2014, at 19:11.

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