chords & harmony

8/13/2019 Chords & Harmony

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Chords & Harmony

Understanding Songs


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Remember thirds?

We learned about two types of 3rds:

Major 3rds (4 half-steps) and minor 3rds

(3 half-steps).

C E

Major 3rd

4 half-steps

1 3

2 4D F

Minor 3rd

3 half-steps

1

2 3


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When we stack thirds, we create chords.

Chord names have 2 parts: the lowest

note in the stack of 3rds is the Root, andthe type of 3rds in the stack determines

the qualityor color.

In their simplest form, chords may bemajor, minor, diminishedor

augmented.


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Here are graphic representations of

major and minor thirds:

M

aj

o

r

3

r

d

M

i

n

o

r

3

r

d


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A minor 3rdon a major 3rdbuilds a major

chord.

M

aj

o

r

3

r

d

M

i

n

o

r

3

r

d

C E GC Major chord


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A major 3rdon a minor 3rdmakes a

minor chord.

M

aj

o

r

3

r

d

M

i

n

o

r

3

r

d

C

Eb

GC Minor chord


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A minor 3rdon a minor 3rdcreates a

diminishedchord.

M

i

n

o

r

3

r

d

M

i

n

o

r

3

r

d

C

Eb Gb

C Diminished chord


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A Major 3rdon a major 3rdcreates an

augmented chord.

M

a

j

o

r

3

r

d

M

a

j

o

r

3

r

d

C E

G#

C Augmented chord


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These three-note chords

are called Triads

Major, minor, diminished and

augmented thats all there is.


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Rather than thinking in terms of

combinations of major and minor 3rds,

many musicians think of the triads asformulasfrom a major scale.

A major triad is R (root), 3rdand 5th.

A minor triad is R, flat 3rd

, and 5th

. A diminished triad is R, flat 3rd, and flat 5th.

An augmented triad is R, 3rd, and sharp 5th.


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A triad constructed as weve described is

called a closed voicing.

Notice that the notes are in the most

compact arrangement possible. If we take the middle note up (or down)

an octave we create and open voicing.


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Chords with the root as the lowest note

are in root position. (Every chord

weve looked at so far has been in rootposition.)

The sequence of notes doesnt affect the

chords name or quality. Any note in the

chord can be the lowest.


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Chords with notes other than the root in

the bass (the lowest note) are inversions:

Root Position

Root in the Bass

First Inversion

3rd in the Bass

Second Inversion

5th in the Bass


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Just like root position chords, inversions

may be closed or open voicing.1stInversion

Closed Voicing

1stInversion

Open Voicing

2ndInversion

Closed Voicing

2ndInversion

Open Voicing


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Now, lets put these triads

in context.

Think of a major scale.G major Scale


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We can stack thirds on each note in the

scale, creating a triad on each scale

degree.


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If we analyze the arrangement of majorand minor thirds in these triads, we findmajor chords on the 1st, 4th, and 5thnotes

of the scale; minor chords on the 2nd, 3rdand 6thnotes of the scale; and adiminished chord on the 7thdegree of

the scale. We abbreviate this formula using upper

case roman numerals for the Majorchords, lower case roman numerals for

the minor chords and a following alower case numeral to indicate adiminished chord.


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I ii iii IV V vi vii I

These triads can also be referred to with the scale

degree names.


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Lets apply what youve learned.

Heres a very common chord progression.

I vi ii V iii vi ii V

This is the analysis of the chord progression.


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You can use the analysis to transpose the

progression to any key.

Eb, for example.

The resulting progression would be:


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I know your heads about

ready to explode.

But theres only onemore thing!


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Chords can have more

than three notes.

A seventh chord adds another 3rdto our

stack.

Here is our harmonized G scale.

I IV V


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A note has been added to each of the

major chords in the scale.

The I and IV chords are called major 7

chords. The V is called a dominant 7

because the only place that arrangement

of thirds occurs in on the 5th, or

dominant, chord.

Major 3rd Major 3rd Minor 3rd


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As a rule, we dont say the word

dominant. So, when someone refers to

a G7, they mean a G dominant 7.

The formula for a dominant 7 is:

R, 3, 5, flat 7.


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Since we have one more note in the

chord, its possible to have one more

note in the bass, creating a differentinversion.

C7 Root Position

Root in Bass

C7 1st

Inversion3rd in Bass

C7 2ndInversion

5th in Bass

C7 3rd

Inversion7th in Bass


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Like everything else

this takes practice.

Try spelling different chords.

Try looking at a church hymnal and see

if you can figure out some of the chords. Go to musictheory.net and use the Triad

trainer.

Practice!

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