Quadrium - Music Theory Series Part 2 - Chords SI Lesson
Introduction
Hey all. Dogukan Ozturk here. Welcome to my Music Theory Series part 2.
In todays lesson we will take a look at how to construct a chord. So let's get started.
Building Chords
We can build a chord from a scale.We can build 7 basic chords from a given scale.
The formula is:
(b=flat,#=sharp)
-We take 1,3 and 5th notes of the scale to build a Major Chord
-We take 1,b3 and 5th notes of the scale to build a Minor Chord
There are many other chords but these to are two most common chords. I will give the other chord formulas
at the end of the lesson.
So let's continue with an example. Take C Major scale:
C D E F G A B C
The first(root) note is: C
The third note is: E
The fifth note is: G
If we put them together we have a C Major Chord. Let's take the other notes of the scale since I mentioned before
that we can build 7 basic chords from a given scale. Everytime we will make the 1,3,5 combination within the scale
eventually we will get 7 chords from 1 given scale.
If we start with D in the C Major Scale:
The first note is: D
The third note is: F
The fifth note is: A
C D E F G A B C
If we put them together we have a D minor Chord. If you are confused about; we take 1,3 and 5th notes. Why is
this a minor chord instead of major chord?-It's because, actually this is still C Major scale not D. We only started from
a different note in the C Major scale. Since, between D and F we have minor3 interval we have a minor chord. (1,b3,5)
If we start with E in the C Major Scale:
The first note is: E
The third note is: G
The fifth note is: B
C D E F G A B C
If we put them together we have an E minor Chord.
There is a easy way for this. In a Major Scale we can build Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Diminished
Meaning:
We can build C Major, D Minor, E Minor, F Major, G Major, A minor, B Diminished chords from the C Major Scale.
This order is the same for every Major scale.
Lets take D Major Scale:
D major scale = D E F# G A B C# D
Then the chords are in D are should be like that; D Major,E Minor,F# Minor,G Major,A Major,B Minor,C# Diminished
You can see see the difference between a major and minor chord.
-A D major chord is made up of the notes D, F#, and A. (1,3,5 rule)
-A D minor chord has the notes D, F and A. (1,b3,5 rule)
Finally here are the some other basic chords formulas:
major = 1 3 5
minor = 1 b3 5
augmented = 1 3 #5
diminished = 1 b3
b5sus2 = 1 2 5
sus4 = 1 4 5
major 7 = 1 3 5 7 7 = 1 3 5 b7
minor 7 = 1 b3 5 b7
minor 7b5 = 1 b3 b5 b7
diminished 7 = 1 b3 b5 bb7(6)* 6 = 1 3 5 6
minor 6 = 1 b3 5 6
- bb=double flat, means to lower a note by 2 half steps (2 frets)
Hope you enjoy lesson. See you in another lesson of the Music Theory Series. Keep rocking