cool instrumentals

you'll see chord symbols above each bar in old school notation.

It picks a set of background notes that last roughly a bar. Maybe a couple bars, maybe only a beat. These notes make a slowly moving setting for the melody to kind of dance on top of. So it usually includes some of the melody notes.

ok ok what's a chord ?

a root note, then extra notes (usually 2 more) are played at the same time.

Those extra notes are called the chord quality.

 Root   Quality   Intervals    Notes
 C      Major     root +4 +7   C E  G
 C      Minor     root +3 +7   C Eb G

Those intervals are in halfsteps.
A halfstep is the very next key including the black ones (Black and white are the same - just like people)

D to D# is a halfstep.
E to F is too.
C to G is 7 halfsteps.
Count them out on the piano. Chords can start on any root note. Then you skip the number of halfsteps up to find the rest of the notes.

root - base of it.
quality - pattern of extra notes.
bass - lowest note of a chord. Often but not always same as root. Cuz octaves of these notes can be anywhere.

Any octave is important for chords.

Play em! C E G.
Then move the notes to other octaves.
Sounds very similar if not identical :)
Pretty cool !

Interval names

There are 12 halfsteps available within an octave.
C to B#.
The C just after that B# starts the next octave.

Each halfstep distance is called an interval and has a name. Sigh.

 Distance  Name
 0         oct   unison - same dang note
 1         m2    minor 2nd
 2         2     2nd  (sometimes major 2nd)
 3         m3    minor 3rd
 4         3     3rd
 5         4     perfect 4th
 6         d5    tritone / augmented 4th
                         / diminished 5th
 7         5     perfect 5th
 8         m6    minor 6th / augmented 5th
 9         6     6th
 10        m7    minor 7th
 11        7     7th


 12        oct   (oops, we started over)
                 this is the same as 0 !!!

I think these names are dumb but they were decided long before me. Composers will use these terms to describe chord qualities.

2 halfsteps is a whole step
Scales are defined in half and whole steps:

 Major is   c d e f g a b c
             w w h w w w h


 Minor is   a b c d e f g a
             w h w w w h w

A melody usually sticks to these 7 most popular notes of the key signature.

Why are white more popular than black?
That's how they're NOT like people :(
Older pianos had it right, I think.

But the chords don't care - they won't be limited to those 7.

Melody does care - so your ear can easily find it among the chords :) unless we're dealin' with jazz sigh :/

octaves don't matter

What happens when we go down 7 halfsteps from C? We get F which is 5 halfsteps up from the C an octave down.

Since octaves don't matter in chords, an interval of a 5th is a 4th with an octave swap. A "5th up" sounds verrry "4th down". Same note different octave.

Not only that, Also a 4 halfsteps down is similar to 8 halfsteps up.

There are aaactually only 7 intervals if you think about it. +0/oct/unison and +6/dim5/tritone are lonely. But +1..+5 are paired with +11..+7 so 2+5=7

We could define chord qualities with only the intervals of...

+0 .. +6

inversion = arrangement

Your ear still hears that chord quality regardless of the octaves. Same chord, but in a different "inversion". Let's take a C chord:

 C4 E4 G4        root position.
    E4 G4 C5     1st inversion.
       G4 C5 E5  2nd inversion.
 (4 note chords can have a 3rd inversion)

Those are some terms a piano teacher will ask you to memorize. But since each note can be in any octave, there are way more unnamed possibilities.

a true "chord arrangement" is giving the root, quality, and octave layout of each note. Spelling it out.

Although you can use any octaves, it has to sound good !

notes too close together in the bass octaves sound "muddy" - overlapping each other - unclean

keep bass notes spread out by an octave, 4th, or 5th.

Picking new octaves for chords can improve (and wreck) a song dramatically. It's a big part of a song's "arrangement". Picking chords and good inversions for them is an art :)

dominant 7th chord aaand...

some people just can't be satisfied. 3 Notes? Not enough! So we've got "dominant 7th" chords and other chord qualities...

So a dom7 chord is where you take a major chord and add a minor 7th. So root +4 +7 +10 (or root,3,5,m7 if you're old school).

That +10 interval gives you a yearning sound. You gooootta hear the root again so bad. That's why the dom7 is so good.

But really, a dominant 7th chord is just another chord quality. There's tonz morez !!

mooore chord qualities

jazz is big into naming all of the useful chords.

and some un-useful ones.

Here's a pretty decent list of chords and how to make them.
But unless you're gonna do jazz (STICK WITH ROCK !!), well, maybe you won't need em all...:)

 Name  HalfstepList  AlternateNames
       0,4,7         maj - so popular it's
                     quality is just NOT THERE
 5     0,7           1+5 "power chord"
                     only one with no 3rd
 m     0,3,7         min -
 dim   0,3,6         o
 aug   0,4,8         +
 sus   0,5,7         sus4
 sus2  0,2,7         1+2+5
 4     0,4,7,5       add
 2     0,4,7,2       add2 add9 Maj(9) Madd9
 6     0,4,7,9       maj6 M6
 m2    0,3,7,2       min(9) m(9)
 m6    0,3,7,9       min6
 7     0,4,7,10      dom7
 M7    0,4,7,11      Maj7
 m7    0,3,7,10      min7
 mM7   0,3,7,11      minMaj7
 dim7  0,3,6, 9
 m7b5  0,3,6,10      min7b5 hDim7 (slashes)
 7sus  0,5,7,10      7sus4
 7b5   0,4,6,10
 7#5   0,4,8,10      7aug
 M7#5  0,4,8,11      Maj7aug M7aug augM7
 7#11  0,4,7,10,6    7(#11)
 7,13  0,4,7,10,9    7(13) 7(add13)
 7b9   0,4,7,10,1    7(b9) b9
 7b13  0,4,7,10,8    7(b13)
 7#9   0,4,7,10,3    7(#9)
 9     0,4,7,10,2    7(9)
 M7#11 0,4,7,11,6    Maj7(#11) M7(#11)
 M9    0,4,7,11,2    Maj7(9) 7(9) maj9
 6,9   0,4,7, 9,2    Maj6(9) 6(9)
 m9    0,3,7,10,2    min7(9) m7(9)
 m7,11 0,3,7,10,5    min7(11) m7(11)
 mM7,9 0,3,7,11,2    minMaj7(9) mM7(9)
 9sus  0,5,7,10,2    9sus4
 11    0,4,7,10,2,5
 13    0,4,7,10,2,5,9

Altered Chords

chords can also be tweaked by naming em

suspended - taking away notes - "suspended 5th".

altered - changing notes - "altered 3rd". If you alter it up a half step, it's augmented. If you alter it down a half step, it's diminished.

added - adding notes - "added 6th"

It's a mess I tell ya !!

Slash Chords

rock guys just kinda say "who cares what it's called - it sounds GOOD, man". They tack extra notes into the bass via "slash chord" notation.

So C/D means play a C major and add a D note into the bass. Far enough down that the whole thing doesn't sound "muddy".

Is the D the actual chord root or is the C ??? rock guys just don't care ! If it's a chord that sounds good, it's a good chord !! Play the damn thing. Leave categorizing it to the jazz dudes...

Chord Progressions

going from one chord to the next is called a "chord progression". If you're a jazz dude you call it "the changes". And you live for em.

Remember chords are a slowly moving background for a melody line to dance on toppa.

Rock songs keep the chords simple. I'm looking at you "the blues". The same sequence of chords is reused from song to song. This is great for the listener that doesn't want to have to think. Maybe you had a long day.

Also, keeping the note jumps small when going to the next chord makes it sound way better. This is called "voice leading" and is too big a topic for right here.

ENOUGH !!

Or maybe ya wanna learn a lil 'bout midi?

◤ home