Chords: Majors and minors

Graph of the music basics section. Art by Tedel.

A chord is a combination of at least three sounds (they can be more or less, but they are basically three) played by the same musical instrument. From this definition you can deduce basically two things: The first one is that not every musical instrument can play a chord; the second one, that chords do not necessarily sound at the same time. As a matter of fact, as wind or percussion instruments, like the flute or the drums, can only emit one sound at the time, they cannot play chords. String instruments, like the guitar, the piano or the harp, due to their nature, yes.

That said, we need to complete the definition of a chord. We mentioned that they are the combination of three sounds, but not which ones. It is here, however, where the topic becomes complicated. There are many kinds of chords and each of them will have its own characteristics. There are major chords, minor chords, fourth chords, perfect fourth chords... the list is long, and further, it depends on which nomenclature or theory you want to name it. Therefore, it will be more comfortable for both of us (you, who read and I, who write) to try to help you get the picture based on examples.

Major chords

Major chords include these three sounds. To make the others, you just need to transport them from a scale to another:

C – E – G

The chord receives the name of its base note. In this list, the first one, from do major to ti major:

C – E – G
D – F# – A
E – G# – B
F – A – C
G – B – D
A – C# – E
B – D# – F#

Minor chords

Major chords include these three sounds. To make the others, you just need to transport them from a scale to another:

A – C – E

Again, the chord receives the name of its base note. In this list, the first one, from la minor to sol minor:

A – C – E
B – D – F#
C – D# – G
D – F – A
E – G – B
F – G# – C#
G – A# – D#

How are you going to play them?

Chords are played either simultaneously or in very close successions. To complete a chord, you just need to make the three notes present while you play, in any order you may need or like. Thus, to play a major do, you can play its composing notes (C – E – G) at the same time or one after the other, in that order (I mean, do as the sound in the lowest pitch) or another (C – E – G, E – G – C, G – C – E, etc.)...

This is one of the things that make music so interesting.

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