Introduction
I would be starting with triads and what we call the fantastic four, then onto shortcuts that will help you master extended chords, primary and secondary chords, inversions, voicing, etc. Common problems musicians face are:
1» lack of chord knowledge beyond triads.
2» lack of fundamentals and music theory.
3» lack of advanced strategies to play complex voicings.
Triads are 3 note chords. There are 4 types of these which we call the fantastic four, because by understanding them, you can play nearly every other chord out there. They are: Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished chords. You can also say major triad, minor triad, diminished triad, and augmented triad.
Chords are made up of qualities and quantities. When you hear someone say Major triad chord, the major part is the quality, and the triad part is the quantity. In other words, the four chords given above could be said to be the four main qualities that exists.
Quality + Quantity = Chord
My definition of a chord will be thus: ‘a combination of notes played together that have both attributes of quality and quantity’. In other words, if it doesn’t have a quality and a quantity, it does not qualify to be a chord.
There are more qualities than these mentioned here, the triads, but all those are simply a combination or marriage of these four.
Quantities have to deal with numbers/size, while quality deals with texture. We will see the expansion on quantities in the section on Chord Classification.
Now, back to the triads, it's easy to identify these chords with their various intervals. Remember the tree we built, where I said Notes form Scales » Scales form Chords » Chords form Patterns... You will see that a chord is identified by the scale it exists on. The major scale gives birth to the major chord, minor scale to the minor chord, augmented scale to the augmented chord, and Diminished scale to the diminished chord. So, the numerical formula for the triads are all 1»3»5.
Some of us might have been thought these formula as:
1»3»5 for major chord
1»3b»5 for minor
1»3»#5 for augmented
and 1»3b»5b for diminished.
That's a wrong approach to chord formation as it references all chords to one scale only, the major scale. If you really need to understand and harness the power of chords, you’d best approach them from the scales they are built upon, which is the right way.
Now, not all chord qualities exist in the different quantities. We'll look into that now.
The major quality has the ability to extend beyond the triad to the heptads (3 note chords to 7 note chords). Same with the minor quality. You can have a major triad, major 7th(tetrad), major 9th(pentad), major 11th(hexad), & major 13th(heptad). Same thing with the minor quality.
Below is a graph of basic existing qualities and quantities.
1» lack of chord knowledge beyond triads.
2» lack of fundamentals and music theory.
3» lack of advanced strategies to play complex voicings.
Triads are 3 note chords. There are 4 types of these which we call the fantastic four, because by understanding them, you can play nearly every other chord out there. They are: Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished chords. You can also say major triad, minor triad, diminished triad, and augmented triad.
Chords are made up of qualities and quantities. When you hear someone say Major triad chord, the major part is the quality, and the triad part is the quantity. In other words, the four chords given above could be said to be the four main qualities that exists.
Quality + Quantity = Chord
My definition of a chord will be thus: ‘a combination of notes played together that have both attributes of quality and quantity’. In other words, if it doesn’t have a quality and a quantity, it does not qualify to be a chord.
There are more qualities than these mentioned here, the triads, but all those are simply a combination or marriage of these four.
Quantities have to deal with numbers/size, while quality deals with texture. We will see the expansion on quantities in the section on Chord Classification.
Now, back to the triads, it's easy to identify these chords with their various intervals. Remember the tree we built, where I said Notes form Scales » Scales form Chords » Chords form Patterns... You will see that a chord is identified by the scale it exists on. The major scale gives birth to the major chord, minor scale to the minor chord, augmented scale to the augmented chord, and Diminished scale to the diminished chord. So, the numerical formula for the triads are all 1»3»5.
Some of us might have been thought these formula as:
1»3»5 for major chord
1»3b»5 for minor
1»3»#5 for augmented
and 1»3b»5b for diminished.
That's a wrong approach to chord formation as it references all chords to one scale only, the major scale. If you really need to understand and harness the power of chords, you’d best approach them from the scales they are built upon, which is the right way.
Now, not all chord qualities exist in the different quantities. We'll look into that now.
The major quality has the ability to extend beyond the triad to the heptads (3 note chords to 7 note chords). Same with the minor quality. You can have a major triad, major 7th(tetrad), major 9th(pentad), major 11th(hexad), & major 13th(heptad). Same thing with the minor quality.
Below is a graph of basic existing qualities and quantities.