Chord Types

Triads
Triads are made up exclusively from major and minor thirds (in close root position). There are only four
possibilities:

Chord Type Diminished Minor Major Augmented

Interval between
m3 M3 m3 M3
third and fifth
Interval between
m3 m3 M3 M3
root and third

Seventh Chords
There are three possible types of sevenths (major, minor, and seventh), each of which could, in
principle, be added to each of the four types of triads. In practice, however, only about half of the
possible combinations are used the ones that naturally occur in the scale.

In practice, chords with a minor seventh are substantially more common than others. They can be
added to each type of triad. Major sevenths are sometimes added to each type of triad except
diminished, but the scale degrees on which they are found rarely use a seventh especially in earlier
music, though it becomes common enough with major and minor chords by the twentieth century. The
diminished seventh only occurs on a diminished triad.

The augmented triad is a special case. It naturally occurs on the third scale degree of the harmonic
minor scale. But, it is almost never used this way. An augmented triad is perfectly symmetrical. Not
only are the bottom two intervals major thirds, but the interval between the fifth and the octave of the
root is a diminished fourth, which is enharmonically the same thing as another major third. Hence, in
some sense, the augmented triad is uninvertible any one of the notes could be the root. The third of
III 5
the naturally occurring augmented triad (on ) is , and so we usually treat the augmented chord as
V III
though it is a variation of instead of . Hence, although the naturally occurring seventh would be a
III
major seventh (compared to ), the seventh that is more commonly chosen is the minor seventh that
V
belongs to a chord.

Each chord can be named two ways: one compound name, from the name of the triad and the type of
seventh, and one simple name.

Simple Diminished
Half- Minor n/a Dominant Major (Dominant
SeventhDiminished Seventh Seventh Seventh seventh
Seventh augmented)
Compound Diminished- Diminished- Minor- Minor- Major- Major- Augmented-
diminished minor minor major minor major minor
seventh seventh seventh seventh seventh seventh seventh
Seventh Diminished Minor Minor Major Minor Major Minor
Triad Diminished Diminished Minor Minor Major Major Augmented