What Makes Up A Chord?

[Jules]

I'm getting tired of putting my fingers into some chord position, and not knowing what it is. Or forgetting chord names, and being unable to write down something I've written.

I think it's about time I learned what makes up a chord.

Does anything make up a chord? I tried going over this a few months ago, but totally didn't understand it. Can anyone help out?

It would be greatly appreciated.

[Retrosaurus Rex]

How much time do you have? Seriously...

A chord is made up of 3 or more different notes. The chord name provides information about the notes contained therein. Typically you'll want the strong notes in the melody to coincide with notes in the chordal accompaniment. It gets really fun on the guitar because a convenient chord fingering will often double some notes, or if you are using extended chords, omit some notes. A given chord may change its' function depending on the key your melody is in...

Lost yet? Good. Ask some more specific questions, or give a concrete example of a problem you're having, and I'll help you work thru it. Good luck!

[Jules]

So is there a rule to be able to figure out what the chord is by the notes it consists of? Like "C" for example, if I'm right, that seems to be made up of playing 2 "E"'s and a "C" - so why is that a C chord?

[Pretense]

Music Theory by Dummies:

This is the C major scale, The notes are in bold, the distances between the notes are in parentheses:

C(1)D(1)E(0.5)F(1)G(1)A(1)B(0.5)C

Pick a note, let's say 'C'. This is going to be the 1st note, aka "root".

Count to three upwards, you get 'E'. This "third" note determines if your chord is major or minor - if the distance between it and the first is a two steps then the chord is major, if it's one step and a half then it's minor.

Now, move on ahead to the 5th note from the root, 'G' in this instance and voila! A C major chord.

If we were to try this with 'A' for root, we'll get 'A' 'C' and 'E' which will be a minor chord because of the different distances between the root and the third.

And that's it, basically. On top of that, you'll get variations like 7ths, 9ths, 4ths, 13ths (pretty obvious, I think) and all that other crap, but for the most part it's all just major and minor, or even just power chords (just the 1st and 5th notes, making them 'neutral')

Anyway, using the aforementioned system, find all 7 chords in the scale, then play them in whatever order you like - they'll go well together. Then build a scale out of some other note, and repeat the process. It really helps out to just write out the scales for all 12 notes (shaprs included) and the chords for them on paper - helps build hand stamina too!

Almost forgot - in that scale I showed you, you'll get a chord from 'B', 'D' and 'F' which will sound neither major nor minor - it's diminished (half diminished technically, but no one cares) and unless you're keen on making classical or jazz compositions right away, I recommend that you stay away from it for a while.

I really shouldn't be allowed to teach people. Look around the article section on the site, there should be something there about chords. Good luck!

(edit: a bunch of things)

Edited July 17, 2008 by Pretense

[Retrosaurus Rex]

So is there a rule to be able to figure out what the chord is by the notes it consists of?

Sure. Lots of rules, in fact...

Like "C" for example, if I'm right, that seems to be made up of playing 2 "E"'s and a "C" - so why is that a C chord?

Wrong. Let's start simple...

Assuming you're in standard tuning playing the basic open 'C' chord, what are the notes. You're not playing the low 'E' string, for now we'll say the lowest note in the chord is the note it's named after... So, the notes of a 'C' chord are C-E-G-C-E, low to high. We don't care about the doubled notes, so we can just say C-E-G.

Starting at the low 'C' 5th string, 3rd fret, and moving up the string, where do you find the next note in the chord? That would be 'E' at the 7th fret. Moving on, one finds 'G' at the 10th fret. A fret is a half-step, so 4 frets is two-whole steps, which is more commonly described as a Major third. Three frets is a minor third. So, here's a formula. A Major triad (3 notes) is formed from the Root (lowest note), a note a Major third above the root, and a note a minor third above that.

If you have a chord named Cm, it would be a minor triad. For this you can reverse the formula above to Root - minor - Major, and the Notes would be C-Eb-G.

There are 12 notes in the chromatic scale in Western music (that's why the notes repeat at the 12th fret), and from this formula you should be able to figure out major and minor chords shapes on each group of 3 adjacent strings. The great thing is, these shapes are movable, so you can play in any key. At this point you can also forget the temporary rule I mentioned above. Once you know the names of the notes the Root need not be the lowest note played. E-G-C, G-C-E, and G-E-C will all have the fundamental character of the C Major triad. These are also known as inversions of the chord.

Later we can cover 7th chords and why some chords work together better than others...

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Also what Dave said while I was typing...

[Lazz]

This oddly named "third" determines if your chord is major or minor - if the distance between it and the first is a note and a half then the chord is major, if it's one note then it's minor.

Dave ?

Would you like to re-phrase that ?

[Lazz]

Hey Jules,

Don't forget to take another look through the previous old bollocks at: http://forums.songstuff.com/index.php?show...=11001&st=0

See if it makes any more sense.

And do it at the piano, now your mum's got one, it's easier to see the patterns laid out in front of you.

Then take it to the fingerboard.

Why not find a teacher ?

It doesn't need to be a regular time-tabled event.

Just someone decent who knows what you're up to and who can clarify issues and answer questions when you're ready to know.

Best way to go.

Better than reaching out for clarity on the net, I reckon.

[Retrosaurus Rex]

This oddly named "third" determines if your chord is major or minor - if the distance between it and the first is a note and a half then the chord is major, if it's one note then it's minor.

Dave ?

Would you like to re-phrase that ?

And if it's a half-a-note it's some kind of jazz thing...

[Lazz]

This oddly named "third" determines if your chord is major or minor - if the distance between it and the first is a note and a half then the chord is major, if it's one note then it's minor.

And if it's a half-a-note it's some kind of jazz thing...

The crucial thing here, Andrew, is that if that third is an interval of 'a note and a half' distant from the root-note, then it is minor, not major.

And if the interval is 'one note', then it's a second, or a ninth, but nothing at all to do with a third.

I think mis-information should be avoided.

It causes unnecessary problems.

[Pretense]

Dave ?

Would you like to re-phrase that ?

Umm... whoopsie.

[Nick]

There is a long discussion about this with a range of helpful, and less helpful, posts (and the usual attempts by people in forums to complicate and confuse) on this site in the thread called "What's This Chord".

There is a lot of reading there but if you sift out the crap thee's some good stuff

[Steve]

If you want to learn some chords. Buy a chord book.

[roxhythe]

They used to have chord *charts*, too, when I was learning to play guitar. I kept one posted on the wall for a long time. Nice thing about those is they show where your fingers are supposed to go, in all sorts of positions, and after a while the patterns become obvious.

Just one more maybe extraneous thought, from a country boy's point of view. Think of that list of notes from C to C (shining C?) above as a *gang*--these are not only notes, but *chords* that like to hang out together. You've got a D-minor (and D-7th), E-minor (and E-7th), F, G (or G-7th), A-minor (or A-7th)--and I'm not sure what that B is doing in there, but I use it when I'm sliding into a C. Chords that aren't in the gang won't fit in (unless you're playing jazz, and after 35 years, I *still* won't go there).

Sevenths always sound unfinished, like they want to go somewhere--and where they usually want to go is the fourth note up from where they are, whatever that is. A D7 wants to go to a G, for instance, an A7 to a D, and of course a G7 wants to "resolve" to a C. And minors just sound sad. (And diminished and augmented chords sound like they had operations they didn't quite recover from, and I don't use them--that's jazz, again. I figure if I leave 'em alone, they might get better.<g>)

If you're playing country music, you can get by most of the time with just 3 chords--the 1st (C, say), 4th (F) and 5th (G). Ditto for blues. Everything else is really just variations, and fancier ways of getting from one place to another.

That help?

Joe

[Retrosaurus Rex]

The crucial thing here, Andrew, is that if that third is an interval of 'a note and a half' distant from the root-note, then it is minor, not major.

And if the interval is 'one note', then it's a second, or a ninth, but nothing at all to do with a third.

I think mis-information should be avoided.

It causes unnecessary problems.

Hi Lazz,

Sorry if that snarky comment offended you... In my serious post I was hoping to present a simplified but accurate concept of the relationship between the chord name and the notes it contains which would be useful for guitar players just embarking on a study of theory. I think using terms carefully and with some respect for convention is important, so my snarky comment was intended to point out (humorously) the danger of throwing around terms incautiously...

[Pretense]

Sorry for all the confusion folks, I was slightly tipsy when I wrote the post and I confused some stuff. I edited the post, hope the threadjack is over.

[Lazz]

Sorry if that snarky comment offended you...

...was intended to point out (humorously) the danger of throwing around terms incautiously...

No problem, no offense taken.

The throwaway half-note raised a warm smile.

But it was Dave's post I was responding to intitially.

Dave wasn't around at this point so it was yours to which I replied with clarification of my quibble.

Steve Mueske said he wasn't going to speak on my behalf - but still succeeded in explaining my concerns.

Thanks.

It's been a long time since I looked at one, but I don't remember chord books ever explaining concept before (which is what I thought Juiles was asking). Maybe they do now. I don't know. The books I got which were piano-related, however, always did a better job on that end. Certainly chord-books are very handy anyway.

But yes - have that circle of fifths nonsense stapled to your wall and drilled into your brain - eventually it kicks into gear.

Be very careful about what you read on the internet - there are a lot of people out there who will innocently lead us astray even with the best of intentions.

And find yourself a bloody teacher, Jules - no need to stumble alone in the dark being slipped mis-information like some mushroom.

Get some lights on.

I like what Joe has to say and the way he says it, as usual.

I personally think that Andrew should be functionally leading the running in this thread's dialogue with Jules. Keeps things simpler and more effective without constant intrusive noise of interjection. Unless he makes a mistake, that is. In which case we all jump in quick as a flash and make a fuss and point fingers and make a big mess.

[Nightwolf]

Unless he makes a mistake, that is. In which case we all jump in quick as a flash and make a fuss and point fingers and make a big mess.

with confidence I leave you in charge

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Hey Jules,

If you're not too put-off by the hi-jacking of your thread, can you say if any of this was a helpful start?

Lazz mentioned chord books, the best I've seen is Chords & Progressions for Jazz and Popular Guitar by Arnie Berle. Despite the intimidating title, he starts simple and really breaks down how chords are made (including extended chords), how they function musically, and how they relate to the melody. And most of the exercises are actually musical, so you can quickly apply what you're learning to tunes. You might even become a jazz cat someday...

[Lazz]

This might be useful.

(or maybe not)