Chord Structure - Major and Minor Triads
When you look in a Chord Book, or a friend shows you a chord on your instrument, you memorize it. You might even learn later on that there are different forms of the same chord located in different places. As you memorize these you may know them but you may not know why they are set the way they are. This section is for you to learn to first basics of why a chord is a chord and why each chord has those particular notes.
The first basic structure is a Triad. “Tri” means three. The chord is formed of three notes. Let’s look a simple chord like C. A C Major chord is formed of the three notes C E and G.
The first basic structure is a Triad. “Tri” means three. The chord is formed of three notes. Let’s look a simple chord like C. A C Major chord is formed of the three notes C E and G.
A Triad starts with a note which is the basic name of the chord, and then has two more notes attached. In this case C is the name of the chord, E and G are attached. C would be the 1 of the chord, skip the 2 note D and land on the 3 note E, skip the 4 note F and land on the 5 note G. Thus the Major Chord is the 1, the third from the 1, and the 5th from the 1.
Notice the spacing from the 1 note to the 3 note. See that it is two Whole Steps. And from the 3 to the 5 note is a Half Step and a Whole Step. This is the structure of a Major Chord. It is named after the 1 note, there is a jump of two Whole Steps to the 3 note, and a jump of a Half Step and a Whole Step to the 5 note. The Two Whole Steps is a Major Shift. The Half Step and Whole Step combination is a Minor Shift.
C MAJOR CHORD
D MINOR CHORD
The 2 Chord of a Major Scale is a Minor Chord, in this case D Minor. D would be the 1 of the chord, skip the 2 note E and land on the 3 note F, skip the 4 note G and land on the 5 note A.
Again notice the spacing of the notes. They are a reverse of the Major Chord. From the 1 note to the 3 note is a Half Step and a Whole Step (or a Minor Shift). From the 3 to the 5 note is two Whole Steps (a Major Shift).
This is the difference between a Major Chord and a Minor Chord. A Major chord has a 1 note, a Major shift to the 3 note and a Minor Shift to the 5 note. The Minor Chord has a 1 note, a Minor Shift to the 3 note, and a Major Shift to the 5 note. The net result is the 1 note and the 5 note are the same, but the middle 3 note moves a half step. You may have noticed that all the Major and Minor chords you know seem to move one note, this is why. The 1 note names the chord, the 5 note “anchors” the chord, and the middle 3 note defines the chord as Major or Minor.
This is the difference between a Major Chord and a Minor Chord. A Major chord has a 1 note, a Major shift to the 3 note and a Minor Shift to the 5 note. The Minor Chord has a 1 note, a Minor Shift to the 3 note, and a Major Shift to the 5 note. The net result is the 1 note and the 5 note are the same, but the middle 3 note moves a half step. You may have noticed that all the Major and Minor chords you know seem to move one note, this is why. The 1 note names the chord, the 5 note “anchors” the chord, and the middle 3 note defines the chord as Major or Minor.
So the basic C chord that you learn is not the only way to play a C chord. The chord C Major is any combination of all three of the notes in the triad - C-E-G - anywhere on the instrument.
These are all C Major chords. And there are more.
These are some of the D Minor chords.