Chord Clues A Quick Guide to Chord Theory
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Why learn chords? Musicians can be divided into two groups: those who read sheet music and those who play using the “chord method”. If you’re a sheet music player, player, you may think that you don’t need to know about chords. However,, I believe that understanding how chords are used in a composition will make it However much easier for you to read and understand the piece. Even for classical music! Just like today’ today’ss songwriters, composers of classical music used chords to create their harmonies. Chords are the foundation of all our music. Here is an example:
This is the first phrase of “Largo “Largo in Eb major major”” by Chopin. Now, I’m not a particularly good sight-r sight-reader eader and this looks p pretty retty intimidating to me. But when I write down the chords, it instantly becomes a lot easier for me to read. Because I know how to form chords, I can predict what the notes will be and what shapes my hands need to assume. Here is the same phrase with added chord symbols:
It may be a little hard to read in the picture, but the chords are: Eb Eb,, Bb7 Bb7,, G7/B G7/B,, Cm Cm,, G7 G7,, Ab Ab,, Fm,, Eb/Bb Fm Eb/Bb,, Bb7 Bb7,, Bb7/Eb Bb7/Eb,, Eb Eb..
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I notated some chords as “slash chords”, for example G7/B. This is a G7 chord but with a B tone in the bass. Now it’s just a matter of playing the correct melody note in the right hand and the bass note in the left hand, and filling in the rest with chord tones. I don’t really need to read each individual note: I can assume with a large likeli likelihood hood of success that most of them will be tones from the chord. And if they are not, then playing a chord tone will still sound acceptable. ;-) I do this on all my sheet music pieces now: first find the chords and write them above the music. It makes the structure of the piece more understandable to me, and I learn it quicker. By making the chords visible, the dots on the page are no longer arbitrary arbitrar y and unrelated.
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The different types of chords If you’re wondering exactly what a chord is: You make make a chord by playing 3 or more tones together. That’s it, as simple as that. But which tones? Well, that depends on what you want to use the chord for. Not all chords are the same. There are roughly six different different types of chords and each of these types has its own function in the language of music. The most important tone in the chord is called the root tone. tone. This is the tone that the chord gets its name from. For example, the C major chord major chord is built on the root tone C and is of the type major major.. You can use each of the 12 unique tones on the piano as the root to build a chord on, but in this article we’ll just look at C. Here are the different chord types:
The major chord This is the C major chord:
Major chords are the most common chords in our music. The tones in this particular par ticular major chord are: C (the root tone), E and G.
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The minor chord This is the C minor chord:
The minor chord has two tones in common with the th e major chord, but the middle tone is different: differen t: an Eb Eb instead instead of the E. Minor chords are often labeled as having a “sad” sound.
The dominant-7 chord This is the C dominant-7 chord:
Chords can have more than 3 tones. It is possible to “extend” “extend” major and minor chords with additional tones, but most of these do not change the type of the chord: it stays major or minor. However, by adding a Bb Bb to to the C major chord we do change its character and thereby its function. The resulting chord is called the dominant dominant-7 -7 chord (or just “7 chord”).
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The diminished chord This is the C diminished chord:
It looks a little like the C minor chord but with a Gb Gb instead instead of a G. You can make a diminished chord by lowering the highest tone of a minor chord, or the top two tones of a major chord.
The augmented chord This is the C augmented chord:
Not only can you lower tones, you can also raise them. Here, we have raised the G to a G# G# to to form an augmented chord. An augmented chord has the same function as a dominant dominant-7 -7 chord, and they can substitute for each other. (Often they are combined into one chord.)
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The suspended chord This is the C suspended chord:
By taking a C major chord and playing an F instead of the E, the chord becomes suspended. These types of chords create tension that is often resolved by playing a major chord. Try it: play the C suspended chord followed by C major major.. Can you hear how C major relieves the tension created by the suspended chord? As you can see in the pictures above, what causes the differences between these chord types are the distances between the tones that make up the chord. These distances are called intervals and intervals and we look at those later.
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How to construct chords You don’t need a “1000 Chords Dictionary” to be able to read and play chords. Y You ou can learn how to form chords on your own, because chords are built using simple formulas. formulas. A chord is three or more notes played at the same time. It’s as simple as that. Of course, the trick is to know which which three three notes… Obviously, not all combinations of notes sound good. Particular combinations each have their Obviously, own name: there are “major “major”” chords, “minor “minor”” chords, “dominant “dominant-7” -7” chords, “dim “diminished inished chords”,, and so on. See the previous chapter for the different chord types chords” Of each chord type, there are 12 possible chords: one for each note. So there is a C major chord, a C# C# major major chord (which is the same as the Db Db major major chord), a D major chord, and so on. There is also a C minor chord, a C# C# minor minor chord… you get the drift. note. So in the Cmaj7 Cmaj7 chord, The note that names the chord is called the root note. chord, the root note is C. The chord quality (or quality (or chord type) is maj7 maj7,, which is short for “major chord with an added 7th”. What’s the difference between all these chord types? The way they sound, of course: each What’s type has its own unique sound. For example, major major-7 -7 chords such as the Cmaj7 Cmaj7 have have a warm sound, while dominant-7 chords like C7 C7 sound sound very bluesy.
Chord formulas To form a chord you simply apply a formula to the major scale named by the root tone. This formula formula. tells you which notes from the scale make up the chord. Each chord type has its own So to build any type of chord, you need to know: •
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the major scale for the root tone of that chord, and the formula for that chord.
I am assuming that you already can play the 12 major scales. If not, learn the major scales first. Let’ss put this knowledge into practice. Let’
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The formula for major chords is: 1 – 3 – 5 We know that the scale for C major is: C 1
D 2
E 3
F 4
G 5
A 6
B 7
C 8
If we fill in the numbers from the formula, we get: C – E – G. G . These are the tones of the C major chord. Make sense? That’s all there is to it. Tip: When we say: “The “ The 3rd of the chord” we mean the third tone from its major scale, E in the previous example. (So we don’t mean the 3rd note in the chord, but in the scale.) A major scale only contains 7 unique tones but sometimes we count to 13! We call these extended tones because tones because they extend beyond the octave. The most common extended tones are 9, 11 and 13. It’s important important to realize that note “9” is the same as note “2”, 11 is the same as 4, and 13 is the same as 6: C 1 8
D 2 9
E 3 10
F 4 11
G 5 12
A 6 13
B 7 14
There are also formulas that contain the symbols b and #. The b stands for “flatten” or lower by a half-step and # stands for “sharpen” or raise by a half-step. For example, the formula for a minor chord is: 1 – b3 – 5. 5. You know that 3 is the third note of the scale, so to get b3 b3 we we lower the third note by a halfstep. Likewise, the formula for an augmented chord contains a #5 Likewise, #5:: this is the fifth note raised by a half-step. Any note can be raised or lowered but 3, 5, and 7 are the most common ones.
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The chart Chord naming rules and chord symbols are not always very consistent. Often the same chord can have multiple names. The chart lists the most common symbols. Note that the numbers in the formulas always indicate positions in the major major scale. scale. Major chords: Chord name Major Major 6 Major 7 Major 9 Major 11 Major 13 Major add 9
Chord symbol (nothing), maj, ma, M, ∆ 6, maj6, ma6 maj7, ma7, M7, ∆7, j7 maj9, ma9, M9, ∆9, j9 maj11, M11, ∆11, j11 maj13, M13, ∆13, j13 add9, /9
Formula 1–3–5 1–3–5–6 1–3–5–7 1–3–5–7–9 1 – 3 – 5 – 7 – 9 – 11 1 – 3 – 5 – 7 – 9 – 11 – 13 1–3–5–9
Major 6/9
6/9, 9/6
1–3–5–6–9
Chord name Minor Minor 6 Minor 7 Minor 9 Minor 11 Minor 13
Chord symbol m, min, mi, m6, min6 m7, min7 m9, min9 m11, min11 m13, min13
Formula 1 – b3 – 5 1 – b3 – 5 – 6 1 – b3 – 5 – b7 1 – b3 – 5 – b7 – 9 1 – b3 – 5 – b7 – 9 – 11 1 – b3 – 5 – b7 – 9 – 11 – 13
Mino Minor major Minorrr majo Mino majo majorrr 7 9 Minor add 9 Minor 6/9
m(ma m(maj7), j7), m(ma m(maj9), j9), mM7, mM9, m m∆7 9 m(add9), m/9 m6/9, m9/6
Minor chords:
∆
1 1– – b3 b3 – –5 5– –7 7–9 1 – b3 – 5 – 9 1 – b3 – 5 – 6 – 9
Dominant chords: Chord name Dominant 7 Dominant 9 Dominant 11
Chord symbol 7 9 11
Formula 1 – 3 – 5 – b7 1 – 3 – 5 – b7 – 9 1 – 3 – 5 – b7 – 9 – 11
Dominant 13
13
1 – 3 – 5 – b7 – 9 – 11 – 13 – 11 –
Diminished chords: Chord name Diminished Diminished 7 Half-diminished (7)
Chord symbol dim, ° dim7, °7 m7b5, m7-5, ø
Formula 1 – b3 – b5 1 – b3 – b5 – bb7 (bb7 = 6) 1 – b3 – b5 – b7
Chord symbol aug, +, +5 aug7, 7#5, 7+5
Formula 1 – 3 – #5 1 – 3 – #5 – b7
Chord symbol sus, sus4 7sus, 7sus4 sus2
Formula 1–4–5 1 – 4 – 5 – b7 1–2–5
Augmented chords: Chord name Augmented Augmented 7 Suspended chords: Chord name Suspended (4) Suspended 7 Suspended 2
Cmaj13,, and you don’t know Tip: If the chord symbol is some kind of complicated chord, like Cmaj13 how to play all the additional tones, then you can simplify the chord to its basics. In this case, the basic chord is the major chord, so you can get away by playing only 1 – 3 – 5. 5 . It might not sound entirely as intended, but it will still sound good.
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Altered chords Occasionally, you may come across a weird-l Occasionally, weird-looking ooking chord symbol such as G7b9 G7b9 or or C7b9#5 C7b9#5.. The b9 b9 and and #5 #5 indicate indicate “alterations” to the chord. Alterations change the “color” “color” of the chord but do not change its character and purpose. As always, b means to lower a tone by a half-step and # means to raise the tone a half-step. The chord G7b9 G7b9 contains contains the tones of the G7 G7 chord chord with an added 9th that is lowered a halfstep. The tones of the G7 chord are: G – B – D – F The 9th from the major scale of G is A, but we still need to flatten it. (Remembe (Rememberr that the 9th is the same as the 2nd degree from the scale.) The final chord is: G – B – D – F – Ab C7b9#5 also Db in The chord C7b9#5 also contains a lowered 9 ((Db in this case) and its 5th has been raised (to a G#). G# ). That makes the tones for this chord: C – E – G# – Bb – Db If the chord symbol is 7alt 7alt,, then you are free to make your own alterations. Usually only the 9th and the 5th are altered altered,, but raising or lowering the 11th and 13th also happens. Sometimes the alterations are put in parentheses parentheses:: C7(b9) C7(b9).. That is especially helpful on chords that already have a b or # in their name: C#9 C#9 is is a C# dominant dominant-9 -9 chord, not a C chord with a raised 9! Occasionally,, the symbols - and + are used for b and #. For example: C7-5 Occasionally That’s it! If you’re already comfortable with b That’s building uilding chords from scale degrees degrees then altered chords should not cause you any problems.
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Simplifying chords If you play from leadsheets or you downloaded a chord chart from the internet, you may occasionally find chord symbols that you don’t know yet how to play. Here’s the trick: the only thing that really matters about a chord is whether it is major or Here’s minor. You can safely ignore anything else about the chord. For example, you may encounter the chord symbols Am9 Am9 and and D13 D13.. The first one is an “A minor” chord with an added 7th and an added 9th. The second one is a “D dominant dominant-7” -7” chord with an added 13th but it could also have a 9th and 11th, depending on how you voice it. If that didn’t make any sense to you and you have no clue how to form these chords, then keep what you know and throw away the rest. In our example: Am9 can be simplified to Am, which is A minor. That’s a very simple three-tone chord. D13 can simply be played as D major major.. Again, a ver veryy simple chord. When you play Am instead of Am9 and D major instead of D19, the tune probably won’t sound quite like it’s supposed to, but it won’t sound bad either. You can get away with it! The only important thing to get right is the distinction between major and minor. minor. If you mix those up, something will will sound sound bad. To recap: A chord symbol that has an “m” or “min” (or sometimes a minus sign) can be simplified to a minor chord. Any other chords can be simplified to a major chord. •
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And if you’re really not sure, you can simplify even further fur ther to a power chord. :-) (There are a few other chord types too, such as diminished and augmented, but we’ll ignore those for now. Just worry worr y about major and minor minor.) .)
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The power chord The “power chord” is a simplified chord, used mostly by rock guitarists but it also has a place p lace on the piano. Remember that a major chord consists of the first, third and fifth degrees of the major scale. A Remember minor chord is like a major chord but with the 3rd lowered a half-step. A power chord, however, however, just has the 1 and 5 and omits the 3rd. Because we leave out the 3rd in a power chord, it is neither major nor minor. You can play a power chord whenever a major or minor chord is required. In fact, because the 1 and 5 are present in every chord except for diminishe diminished d and augmented chords, you can substitute power chords almost everywhere. The reason rock guitar players love power chords is that you only have to learn a single hand shape in order to play all possible power chords. Also, when you apply a lot of distortion to the sound, power chords sound better than full chords. Power chords chords are not very common in piano music. But they are useful if you want to play chords way down low on the keyboard. With those low tones, adding the 3rd makes the sound too muddy, so playing just 1-5 will sound better than 1-3-5. The notation for a power p ower chord, for example the C power chord, is C5 C5.. Less common is something like C(omit3).
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Diatonic chords The key that a piece is written in does not just determine the possible melody tones tones,, but also the chords that can be used. The diatonic chords are chords are the ones most likely to make an appearance. These are the chords that can be built on the tones of the key’s scale. They do not “borrow” tones from other scales. Let’s assume we’re playing in the “key of C”. That means we’re using the tones from the C major scale. The C major scale is: C D E F G A B C We can build a three-note chord — also called a “triad” — on each of these tones. This is the formula: We pick a root tone to tone to start from, then skip one to find the second chord tone, then skip another to find the last chord tone. The first chord is C major: C E G See what I did? I started star ted on the first tone from the scale, C. Then I skipped a tone, D, to land on E. Then I skipped another tone, FF,, to get to G. And I know that the combination C-E-G is called the “C major” chord. The second chord is D minor: D F A This time I started on D, skipped E, found F, skipped G, found A. Very simple. If we apply that formula to all tones in the scale, we find the following chords: Chord C major D minor E minor F major G major A minor B diminished
Tones CEG DFA EGB FAC GBD ACE BDF
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Or viewed slightly differently: C major D minor E minor F major G major A minor B dim di m
C C
D
E E
D
F
G G
F E
A
B
C
D
E
F
A G
F
B A
G
C B
A
D C
B
E D
F
Here it is in sheet music notation:
For any piece in the key of C, these are the most common chords. (Actually, B diminishe diminished d is much less common than the others.) Not all of the chords have the same type: some are major, some are minor, and one is diminished. For any major scale, the order is always as follows: 1. major 2. minor 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
minor major major minor diminished
Try it for yourself on the scale of F major major:: F G A Bb C D E F
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You should find the following chords: Chord F major G minor A minor Bb major C major D minor E diminished
Tones FAC G Bb D ACE Bb D F CEG DFA E G Bb
Minor keys We can also build chords on the tones from a minor key. Let’s take the key of A minor. We will use the natural minor scale to build the chords, except for one. The natural scale of A minor is: A B C D E F G A These are the same tones as the scale of C major, although in a slightly different order. That is because A minor is the relative minor of of C major. Because the two scales have the same tones, we can simply use the diatonic chords from the key of C major, but we now begin at A instead of C: Chord A minor B diminished C major
Tones ACE BDF CEG
D major minor E F major G major
D G# F AB E FAC GBD
Pay attention to the 5th chord, E major. major. This is the exception. If we used the natural minor scale as we did for the other chords, this chord would have been called E minor. Instead, we use the harmonic harmonic minor minor scale, which has a G# note instead of G. The reason is this: the 5-chord should have a strong, powerful sound, even in minor keys.
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In sheet music notation the chords are:
Again, notice the G# on the E major chord.
Seventh chords The chords we looked at so far were triads, chords with only 3 tones. We can add another tone on top to make them “sev “seventh” enth” chords. Adding this “7th” will refine the character of the chords. (We could add more tones too, to make 9th, 11th, or even 13th chords, but these additional tones don’t have as much impact on the character of the chord.) Back to the key of C and the C major scale: C D E F G A B C We made our chords by skipping tones. Skipping another tone and adding the next note to our C major chord makes it a C major major-7th -7th or Cmaj7 for shor short: t: C E G B The second chord then becomes Dm7 (D minor-7th): D F A C Get the drift? Here are all the diatonic 7th chords: Chord Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 B half-dim7
Tones CEGB DFAC EGBF FACE GBDF ACEG BDFA
In sheet music:
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Now what did I mean by “refining the character” of the chords? When we had just 3-tone chords, F and G were both major. Now, however, F has become a major-7 chord but G is a dominant-7 chord. A major-7 chord and a dominant-7 chord have two very differe different nt functions in the language of music. The 5th chord in the key, in this case G7, is therefore usually played as a four-tone chord, to make this distinction between major and dominant-7 clearer. Like I said, the 5-chord is special. Also, B diminished was refined to a B half-dim half-diminished-7 inished-7 chord (and not a fully diminished-7 chord). Note that “Bm7b5” is another way of writing “B half-dim7”. The order of diatonic seventh chords in a major key is always: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
maj7 m7 m7 maj7 do domi mina nant nt-7 -7 ((or or ju just st ““7” 7”)) m7 ha half lf-d -dim im7 7 (o (orr “m “m7b 7b5” 5”))
We can also add 7ths to the chords from a minor key key.. Again, these are simply the chords from C major in a differe different nt order order.. With the exception of the the 5-chord, E7, which has also become a dominant-7 chord here: Chord Am7 B half-dim7 Cmaj7 Dm7 E7 Fmaj7 G7
Tones ACEG BDFA CEGB DFAC E G# B F FACE GBDF
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Roman numerals (and the number system) We have seen that it is possible to build chords on the tones of the major or minor scale (the diatonic chords). Often, these chords are not referred to by their name, but by a number number.. And not a regular number like 1 or 6, but with Roman numerals. In case you forgot all about them, here are the Roman numerals 1 to 7: 1 I
2 II
3 III
4 IV
5 V
6 VI
7 VII
If we were to write the diatonic chords from the C major scale using Roman numerals, it would look like this: C I
Dm ii
Em iii
F IV
G7 V7
Am vi
Bdim vii°
Notice the following: •
•
•
•
Major chords (C and F) are written using capitals. Minor chords (Dm, Em and Am) are in lower-case. The dominant-7 chord (G7) is written as V7. The diminished chord (Bdim) is written as vii°
Occasionally,, you may also see the following notation: Occasionally C I
Dm IIm
Em IIIm
F IV
G7 V7
Am VIm
Bdim VII°
Why use these Roman numerals instead of the chord names? Because using the numbers allows us to talk about chords and chord progressions independently of the key. For example, the chord progressions C F G7 C and C and F Bb C7 F can F can both be written as I IV V7 I. I.
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The first is in the key of C and the second in the key of F, but otherwise they are identical: Roman numerals: I Key of C: C: C Key of F: F
ii Dm Gm
iii Em Am
IV F Bb
V7 G7 C7
vi Am Dm
vii° Bdim Edim
One advantage of using numbers instead of chords chords is that it becomes easy to transcribe a piece from one key to another. Example. Here is the beginning of Misty in the key of C: C Gm C7 F Look at me, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
Suppose you want to play it in another key, say G. First, you replace the chord names with Roman numerals: I Vm I7 IV Look at me, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
Then you look up the chords for the new key and fill them in: G Dm G7 C Look at me, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
The principle works the same for the chords from a minor scale, although the symbols are slightly different (because the chords have differe different nt qualities). For example, the key of A minor: Am i
Bdim C ii° III
Dm iv
E7 V7
F VI
G7 VII7
It is also possible to use Roman numerals to describe chords that are not diatonic. In other words, chords that are borrowed from other keys. For example, the chord bIII bIII is is the 3rd chord (III), in major (uppercase letters), lowered by a half-step halfstep (b). In the key of C, this would be the Eb major chord. You may also see a sharp symbol combined with a Roman numeral: #IV #IV in in the key of C is the F# major chord.
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It is not uncommon to add a qualifier to the Roman numeral. Examples: IVmaj7 IVmaj7,, II7 II7,, #IVdim7 #IVdim7.. To find the real chord, substitute the Roman numeral for the n-th chord from the scale. You may have heard of the Nashville Number System. System. This is the same principle, although it works with plain-old numbers instead of Roman numerals. So instead of II-V-I II-V-I you’d you’d see 2-51, but they both mean the same thing. Solfege is Solfege is yet another system, except that it doesn’t use u se numbers, but syllables: 1 Do
2 Re
3 Mi
4 Fa
5 Sol
6 La
7 Ti
And finally, each of the diatonic chords can also be given a name that more-or-less describes its function. Different chords have different functions in their key key.. I’ll simply give you the list here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Tonic Supertonic Mediant Subdominant Dominant Submediant Leading tone (or subtonic)
So now you know that when people talk about the “I-chord” or “tonic” “tonic”,, they mean the first chord from the key.
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Building chords from intervals We have already seen how to build chords using major scale degrees. degrees. But we can also build chords from intervals, by stacking minor third and major third intervals intervals on on top of the root tone. An interval interval is is nothing more than the distance between two tones. To find the name for an interval you can simply count the number of half-steps half-steps (or (or “semitones”) between the two tones and look up the name in the following table. Just in case you did not know, a halfhalf-step step or semitone means: go one key on the keyboard to the left or right. Suppose we start at the C key. A half half-step -step up from C is C#, a halfhalf-step step up from C# is D. Conversely, a half-step down from C is B, a half-step down from B is Bb. Interval name Unison Minor second Major second Minor third Major third Perfect fourth Augmented fourth Diminished fifth Perfect fifth Augmented fifth Minor sixth Major sixth Diminished seventh Minor seventh Major seventh Octave (or eight)
Half steps 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 8 9 9 10 11 12
For example, let’s look at a major chord, C major. It consists of the tones C – E – G. G. The interval from C up to E is a major third (4 third (4 half-steps). The interval from E up to G is a minor third (3 third (3 half-steps).
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This interval formula, root + major third + minor third, applies to all major chords. The other chord types have their own formulas: Chord name Major Major 7 Minor Minor 7 Minor major 7 Dominant 7 Diminished Diminished 7 Half-diminished Augmented
Formula root + maj 3rd + min 3rd root + maj 3rd + min 3rd + maj 3rd root + min 3rd + maj 3rd root + min 3rd + maj 3rd + min 3rd root + min 3rd + maj 3rd + maj 3rd root + maj 3rd + min 3rd + min 3rd root + min 3rd + min 3rd root + min 3rd + min 3rd + min 3rd root + min 3rd + min 3rd + maj 3rd root + maj 3rd + maj 3rd
The table above only lists chords that are built using thirds. Of course, you can think of all other types of chords in terms of intervals too. For example, the interval formula for a suspended chord like Csus4 (C-F-G) is: root + perfect fourth + major second. And a major 6 chord such as Cmaj6 (C-E-G-A) is: root + maj 3rd + min 3rd + major 2nd. And so on… Figuring out the interval formulas for all the other possible chord types is left as an exercise for the reader. :-) Alternatively, you can look at inter Alternatively, intervals vals this way: A major chord consists of the root, the tone a major third up from the root, and the tone a perfect fifth up from the root. After all, C up to G is a perfect fifth interval. Personally, I don’t often think about chords in terms of intervals, but I do believe that learning Personally, this skill will add to your understanding of the language of music.
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Inversions Chords are made by playing three or more tones at once. Often we will play chords in root position,, which means that the lowest tone is the root tone of position tone of the chord. For example, C major in root position is played as: C – E – G (from G (from low to high) Often it is useful to put p ut the chord tones in a different order. order. We’ll go into the reasons why later,, but for now I’ll show you how to play such inversions later inversions.. If there are three tones in the chord, as in the C major chord above, we can play it in three differentt positions: differen 1. Roo Roott po positi sition on ((or or funda fundamenta mentall posi position) tion) 2. Fi Firs rstt inv inver ersi sion on 3. Se Seco cond nd iinv nver ersi sion on In first inversion, inversion, you take the lowest tone and put it on top. The chord becomes: E – G – C. C. In terms of major scale degrees, the chord is now: 3-5-1 In second inversion, inversion, you take the highest tone and put it at the b bottom. ottom. Now the chord is: G – C – E. E . In scale degrees, the chord is now: 5-1-3 (You (You can also make the second inversion by taking the first inversion and putting its lowest tone on top again.) The number of tones in a chord determines the number of ways the chord can be played. So four-tone chords can be played four different different ways. For example, the Cmaj7 chord: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Ro Root ot po posi sitio tion: n: CC-E-G E-G-B -B ((1-3 1-3-5-5-7) 7) Fir First st inv invers ersion ion:: E-GE-G-B-C B-C (3 (3-5-5-77-1) 1) Sec Second ond in inve versi rsion: on: GG-B-C B-C-E -E (5(5-7-1 7-1-3) -3) Thi Third rd inv invers ersion ion:: B-CB-C-E-G E-G (7 (7-1-1-33-5) 5)
It’s as easy as that.
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In popular music, inversions are usually notated as slash chords, chords, which look like: “chord name/bass tone”. An example is Cmaj7/E Cmaj7/E.. This means you should play the Cmaj7 chord but so that the E tone is at the bottom. In other words: in first inversion. The classical way is a little trickier; it uses intervals to notate the inversion. For triads (threetone chords): •
•
•
Root position: just the chord name First inversion: chord6 — because the root is now a sixth interval above the bass tone Second inversion: chord64 — the root is now a fourth above the bass tone and the 3rd of the chord is now a sixth above the bass tone
Confused yet? Here are the notations for seventh chords (i.e. chords with four tones): •
•
•
•
Root position: chord7 First inversion: chord65 Second inversion: chord43 Third inversion: chord2
Notice that from top to bottom, the inversion numbers go from 7 to 2. That’s a handy trick to remember this notation scheme. Anyway, I prefer the slash chord method to notate inversions. :-) The main reasons for using inversions are: a) playing a smoother bass line, b) voice-leading. More about that later.
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Chord progressions A “chord progression” simply means: a series of chords. Most tunes are harmonized with three or more chords, and the order of those chords is called the chord progression. A verse or chorus of a song often starts out on the home chord (the I chord in the key), then moves through a series of other chords and finally ends up on the home chord again. Many songs (as well as classical pieces) use the same sequences of chords, and in this article art icle we’ll look at some of the most common ones. A very basic progres progression sion is I – IV – V. V. If we’re playing in the key of C that would be C – F – G. G. After the V chord you would typically play the I chord again. Often the IV chord in this sequence is replaced by the ii chord. ii chord. That is a minor chord. The progression then becomes I – ii – V, V, or C – Dm – G in G in the key of C. Again, this progression leads us back to the home chord, so the next chord after ii – V is most likely to be the I chord. This progression is therefore known as ii – V – I (or I (or 2-5-1). Remember that the V chord is often played as V7. That is how you can recognize this Remember progression. progress ion. If you see a minor chord followed by a dominant-7 chord, followed by a major chord: it’s a ii-V-I. An extension of this progre progression ssion is the 1-6-2-5 1-6-2-5 pattern. pattern. (For some reason this progression is often written using normal numbers instead of Roman numerals.) In the key of C, it goes like this: C – Am – Dm – G7 One of the names these chords go by is the “Blue Moon progression” progression”,, but there is a huge number of other songs that use it too. Go play it on the piano and then hum the verse of “Blue Moon” or “Heart and Soul”. Soul”. Don’t tell me it doesn’t sound familiar. :-) It is really easy to compose your own tunes on top of these four chords, because it will make almost any melody sound good, but we’ll get into that in a later article.
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If you already know about the Circle of Fifths, notice that these chord progressions, progressions, 2-5-1 2-5-1 and and 1-6-2-5 (or 1-6-2-5 (or rather 6-2-5-1), are simply trips around the circle. Movement in fifths gives the strongest type of sound that our ears like, so it is no wonder that these patterns are used so much. Because Dm can substitute for F (see above), you can also play 1-6-2-5 as 1-6-4-5 1-6-4-5,, and vice versa. It’s only a small variation in the sound. What I want you to do now is go through your stack of sheet music or leadsheets (if you have them) and see if you can find these chord progre progressions ssions in those songs. Even classical pieces will have them. You can also find the chord sheets of many tunes online. Just go to Google and type in: name of the song chords tabs For example: blue moon chords tabs The words “chords” and “tabs” will tell Google to look for websites that have chord sheets. You might have to dig around for a while but usually you can find a chord sheet for most music. Remember that you can spot a ii-V-I Remember ii-V-I by by looking at the type of chords: a minor chord followed by a dominant-7 chord, followed followed by a major chord. This is important, impor tant, because sometimes — especially in Jazz tunes — you may find a ii-V-I that uses chords that are not in the key of the song. For example: C Am F G7 Gm C7 F … F … The first four chords are in the key of C, but Gm isn’t and neither is C7. What you see here is a ii-V-I, namely Gm-C7-F, that is used to modulate modulate to to another key. The F is now the new I chord. At some point the chords will modulate back to the original key key,, likely using another ii-V-I. That’ss a typical thing for Jazz tunes. That’ So much for the theory. theor y. It’ It’ss good to learn these chord patterns (1-6-2-5 and 2-5-1) in every key,, so go to your piano or guitar and play around with them. key
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Voice-leading Suppose in a particular tune C chord is followed by F chord. Then you could play it like this:
However, that’s quite a big jump. As a result, the music sounds disconnected. Another way to However, play this chord progression:
Now only two tones change — the C remains in the same place — and they jump only a very small distance (a half-step and a whole-step, respectively). The result is a much smoother sound. This principle is called voice-leading voice-leading.. The key to voicing-leading voicing-leading is playing inversions. We started with C chord in root position and then played the F chord in first inversion. We also could have done it like this:
Now C is in first inversion and F is in second inversion. Again, one note remained in the same place and the other two only jumped a small distance.
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We always try to keep the tone (or tones) that the two chords have in common in the same place. When C chord is followed by Am, only one tone moves:
However, in the progression F – G, all three tones must change because the F and G chords However, don’t have any tones in common:
Unless, of course, we make G a four-tone chord, G7:
Note that I played the chord root in the bass this time. Another four-tone chord example, Dm7 to G7:
Here, two notes remain stationary while the other two move a small distance downward.
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That’s really all there is to it. To do proper voice-leading, find the inversion of the next chord that requires the fewest changes. Common uses for voice-leading: playing accompaniment, playing with string sounds (violins), and playing organ and electronic keyboard keyboard — these instruments have no sustain pedal, so voice-leading is needed for smooth changes. Time to practice your inversions!
That's all, folks Thanks for reading! I hope you learned a thing or two about chords and how they work. If you have an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, then do check out my Reverse Chord Finder Pro www.reversechord.com app. I think you will find it useful. For more information, see: www.reversechord.com You can always reach me by e-mail at
[email protected] [email protected] Have fun making music! Matthijs Hollemans
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